Council moves on code violations at 6 homes

The Olney City Council ordered the owners of six derelict properties to remedy code violations within 30 days or the City will take steps to tear them down.

The spate of code enforcement actions comes as Council faces pressure to clean up derelict properties faster.

The Council heard reports and recommendations Olney Police Sgt. Dustin Hudson and Officer Hollie Hawkins concerning structures at 308 W. Edwards St., 613 S. Ave. C, 308 W. Grove St., 507 N. Ave D., 109 W. Grove St. and 1014 W. Hamilton St.

The Council also held public hearings on each of the properties at its Aug. 26 meeting. None of the owners appeared at the hearings.

Olney Police have received ongoing complaints from neighbors about overgrown grass, junk piled in yards, abandoned trailers, rodent infestations and dangerous conditions in each of the homes, Olney Police Chief Dan Birbeck told the Council.

In each case, code enforcement officers reached out to owners and residents to remedy the violations but got no response, he said.

The owners of at least three of the homes have died and no one has claimed them, Sgt. Hudson said.

Two of the homes are total losses after fires, including the West Hamilton Street house, which burned in February after a warming light left on the porch for animals caught fire.

A developer has offered to purchase and remodel that home but it is in an area that is “highly populated with kids and it’s a health and safety hazard,” Sgt. Hudson said.

The Council accepted his recommendation to order it repaired within 30 days “so if the purchase from the contractor does not come through we are ahead of the game.”

One of the home was condemned more than five years earlier, but was never demolished for reasons that were unclear, Sgt. Hudson said.

At least one of the homes had “significant drug traffic moving through it,” Chief Birbeck said.

The property owners have 30 days from Aug. 26 to remedy the code violations or tear down the houses, or to present documentation or a contractor agreement to bring the property back up to code, Mayor Rue Rogers said.

After that period, the code enforcement and public works departments will get warrants to condemn and demolish the properties, he said.