BHA orders landlord to vacate properties until violations corrected
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EAST LIVERPOOL -- Saying he has had sufficient time to comply with orders to repair his rental units, the Board of Housing Appeals took a hard stance this week against a local landlord.
The board met Tuesday to address repair orders for several properties owned by landlord Aaron Stevens, Fairmont Street. The same properties had been addressed during an Aug. 8 meeting, during which members agreed to revisit them in three weeks after Stevens indicated he could probably have the repairs completed in that time frame.
Comments and action by the board at this week's meeting were prefaced by a written statement by Planning Director Bill Cowan, who cited city code which states the BHA shall interpret the city's housing code and allow variances where undue hardship is clearly demonstrated.
He said the appeals process is available to all recipients of Planning Department orders, but "should not be used as a tool to simply buy more time."
Cowan told the board, "It is my contention that an undue hardship cannot be demonstrated by Mr. Stevens. Asking Mr. Stevens or any other landlord to maintain their rental properties in a manner that provides safe housing to residents does not, in my opinion, constitute a hardship. Maintaining rental properties is one of the costs of doing business."
He went on to say, "Filing an appeal...may stay the time before we can assess a $50 per day for non-compliance, but the appeal does not and has not interfered with Mr. Stevens completing work on the rental units," adding there is no acceptable excuse for all work not to have been completed on the five rental units in question.
"The Planning Department will not accept substandard living conditions for rental units simply because of the plight of some of our citizens," Cowan continued, asking the board to support his department in that endeavor, saying, "Each and every one of our citizens deserves to have good, decent, safe housing."
To this end, Cowan asked the board not to give Stevens additional time if it found during the meeting work was not completed and, in fact, asked that the inspector's notice of violation letter be modified to include an order that the properties be legally vacated within the shortest period allowed by law and remain vacant until all violations are corrected to the inspector's satisfaction.
Properties at issue are those located at 208 Pennsylvania, 907 Dresden, 341 E. Eighth, 908/908-1/2 Bradshaw, and 608/608-1/2 E. Fifth -- 5 of the 115 rental units Steven told the board he owns inside four square miles of the city.
Inspector Dave Ryan addressed the Pennsylvania Avenue location first, saying he had inspected all the units the previous day and found some work had been done on this one, but he indicated the work was not up to par and that, in the kitchen he found a bug infestation, saying, "I'm not going to stand around in that kind of filth. The inspection didn't get done."
Trash was still piled in the backyard, according to Ryan, who said some painting had been done.
Asked by board member Bob Smith, "What do you have to say to that?," Stevens said he needed a little more time to get work completed, but Smith said "You don't need any more time. There's trash out back. That's the easiest thing to do. If you had six months you wouldn't do it. It doesn't take 90 days to pick up trash. That's ridiculous. You're out of time on that one as far as I'm concerned."
At Smith's motion, the board voted unanimously to support the recommendation made by Cowan in his statement to the board.
The same motion was made and supported for the property at 907 Dresden Ave., with Smith opposed, after he noted there had been a tear down order against the previous owner of the property that was never enacted "and now we're waiting for it to be repaired."
Stevens' attorney, Tim Brookes, said the previous owner failed to mention the tear down order when he sold the property to his client, saying, "You might want to talk with the law director because he was involved."
It was agreed that that property will stay vacant until repairs are done and the status of the tear-down order is determined.
Smith said there was also an Aug. 18 letter sent by the sheriff's office to surrounding neighbors, informing them a sexual offender was moving into the property, but Stevens said he had no knowledge of that, saying the property is currently vacant.
The property at 908 Bradshaw Ave. presented a concern to board members, with Pat King showing Stevens a photo he had taken of it earlier in the day he said showed the entire front had dropped down.
Board member Jeff Kreefer reiterated his belief that the second floor, which was built on separately, is unsafe for habitation and the only thing holding it up are the front steps.
Although Stevens said he had a waterproofing company look at the property, he was reminded from the minutes of the last meeting that the board had required a structural engineer inspect it. Stevens said he was unaware that was the requirement.
The board voted unanimously to keep the property vacant until a structural engineer inspects it and signs off on it as safe for habitation.
Ryan said the property at 608 E. Fifth St. had been painted with some brush cleaned up, but still had no gutters and a bathtub with serious mold issues.
Asked by Brookes if those issues were on his original report, Ryan said he was never able to get inside to inspect the property until the previous day despite having sent his original letter in June.
Although Brookes noted, "So he's made progress" in regard to the property, Cowan asked the board to uphold his previous statement in regard to Stevens having had sufficient time to make repairs.
Ryan conceded the upstairs is safe to rent, but not the downstairs, and the board voted that the first floor is to remain vacant until all repairs are made, allowing the second floor to be rented.
After Ryan reported that Stevens "didn't do much at all" to the property at 608 E. Fifth St., which is vacant, the board voted that it is to remain vacant until all repairs are made and a thorough inspection can be done.