City officials are hoping to decrease the number of vacant and hazardous homes in Columbus.
The Columbus Board of Works has approved authorizing code enforcement to send out notice to the owners of five vacant properties in the hopes of bringing these homes into code compliance. The homes in question are 593 Fairview Drive, 2112 Sixth St, 217 N. Ross Street, 362 Hege Ave. and 492 S. Cherry St.
The approved resolutions state that if owners do not present a “response and resolution” to code enforcement by Sept. 4, the city will take legal action to have the properties condemned and demolished.
Owners that do respond in time will be given 30 days to come up with a plan and six months to fix up their properties, said code enforcement officer Fred Barnett.
According to Burnett, some of the issues with these homes are as follows:
- 593 Fairview Drive — Vacant for at least two years.
- 2112 Sixth St. — Caught fire in July of 2022. The water and electricity were turned off around that same time, and the home has been vacant since.
- 217 N. Ross St. — Caught on fire over a year ago, and the property owner has done nothing with the house other than boarding it up.
- 362 Hege Ave. — Has become a public nuisance with issues such as snakes.
- 492 S. Cherry St. — Was also the site of a fire. The property owner allowed the tenant to stay in the burnt-out property, but he moved out when it was condemned by the city. The owner has not taken action on the home.
Barnett said that he believes all five can be fixed up, but it’s a question whether the respective owners are willing to invest the necessary funds.
He noted that the city has found several homes that have been vacant for a long time with no action by their respective owners.
“Our goal is to have the property owner either fix the property up, sell it for someone that is going to fix it up, or order it condemned and demolished and take whatever legal action necessary to do it,” he said. “The idea is to open these homes back up to the community.”
The city has found about 50 houses that they plan to address, and he expects others will be added to that list in time.
“We’re not going after every home that’s vacant,” said City Director of Administration and Community Development Mary Ferdon said. “If your home is vacant while you’re trying to sell it, that’s entirely different. We’re going after homes that are a public nuisance.”
The Board of Works also voted to lift a condemnation order they had previously issued for 332 Hege Ave. in June.
City code enforcement, along with Columbus police, Animal Care Services and the Bartholomew County Health Department, inspected the home and found around 42 cats and “a lot of cat urine,” including mattresses “soaked with cat urine” that children allegedly were sleeping on, officials said at the time.
Code enforcement officer Erika Smith said Tuesday that the county health department has lifted its condemnation order for the property. She recommended that the city do the same, as the owners have complied with what was asked of them.
“They have made great progress in cleaning up the home, painting, trying to get the smell of the cats under control,” she said. “And they did a really, really good job.”
