Ledger Inquirer: Two years later, dilapidated house to go on the list

This week, we're going to revisit a classic from the Inquirer archives vault, and I'll tell you up front there's good and bad news.

Back in November 2012, an Anonymous Reader called to complain about a house at 4961 Gardiner Drive, a few blocks off Floyd Road. It had burned, but it had not burned down. So it was vacant, and it was being used by vagrants and varmints and was generally an eyesore. I called Becca Wiggins, who was with Inspections and Codes at the time, and she said she'd look into it.

Then, in March 2013, an Irritated Reader named Joanne called to say the city had sprayed the Big Red D (for demolition) on the house not long after I'd written about it, but nothing had been done.

"All they've done is park a dump truck there," Joanne said.

Well, here's the good news. The property is one of 19 slated for demolition that are being presented to Columbus Council on Tuesday. So if council gives the thumbs up (and approves the funding,) then the house will go on the list to be demolished.

Now, the bad news. That doesn't mean it will be torn down anytime soon. It might, but it might not.

The demolition company gets to decide what order the houses will be demolished in. In most cases, if several are in one immediate area, the company will work those so they don't have to move their equipment as far between jobs. So there's no telling when the Gardiner Drive house will go away.

Just last week, at Mayor Teresa Tomlinson's quarterly public forum, a resident asked city leaders about some houses near her home that are probably candidates for the Big Red D. Deputy City Manager David Arrington explained that it's a long and complicated process to get a house torn down, even after the house gets put on the list and council approves the funding.

"It could take anywhere from four to six months for the contractor to go in and tear these structures down," Arrington said. "It could very well be after the first of the year."

In addition to being a slow, complicated process, it's expensive. And there are just too many dilapidated houses to tear them all down.

This year, we have $100,000 that we'll be able to invest in demolitions," Arrington said. "The list that we'll be bringing to council (this) Tuesday will have 19 properties on it. But I'll tell you, our list of properties that have been written up for demolition to date is 160. So there will be some properties out there that are in disrepair and that something needs to be done about, that we won't have funding to tear down."

Arrington said the city is working with owners of the shabby properties to see if there are any alternative methods to possibly revitalize them, as opposed to tearing them down.

Stay tuned.

Well, wasn't it nice to read a few hundred words without one of them being "hydrilla?" (Except that one.)

This story was originally published September 21, 2014 at 10:45 PM with the headline "Ledger Inquirer: Two years later, dilapidated house to go on the list."