Jeffersonville Board of Public Works and Safety: Tear down home

Clark County

Discussion

February 19, 2009

Owner has 60 days to fix problems or city will tear down house in Maplehurst

By DAVID A. MANN The News and Tribune Thu Feb 19, 2009, 01:47 PM EST

The city of Jeffersonville will tear down a home at 1111 Maplehurst Drive unless the owner remedies safety problems there.

The Jeffersonville Board of Public Works and Safety voted Wednesday morning to give the property owner 60 days to fix problems or the home would be demolished.

“The building is kind of an eyesore on the neighborhood — it really jumps out at you,” said Building Commissioner Russ Seagraves.

It’s lacked regular maintenance for what appears to be years, and the chimney is near collapsing, he added.

The building has been deemed uninhabitable because of the chimney. And Seagraves said the city has had little luck trying to contact the owner of the property, a woman who still lives in Jeffersonville.

The city had been dealing with the issue for more than six months, noted Jim Urban, city planning director, who was sitting in for absent Mayor Tom Galligan.

If the city does end up having to demolish the home, it will put a tax lien on the property in order to recoup its losses.

In other business

• The board also dealt with a few other unsafe-structure issues.

More time was given to a property owner along Coopers Lane, whose trailer had been damaged during September’s wind storm.

Seagraves said that the property owner has been working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and that it could be about a year before she receives money to fix the damage.

The board also gave a property owner along Utica-Sellersburg Road until the end of May to fix issues at an unsafe home there.

• The board approved the use of Duffy’s Landing for a fishing tournament May 16. Money generated by the tournament will benefit the WHAS-11 Crusade for Children.

City officials had expressed concern about liability issues with the tournament, considering that the Ohio River’s water level may be high during that time of year. The approval was given pending a legal review by board attorney Darrin Wilder.

The board could rescind the motion if issues arise.

• The board approved a St. Patrick’s Day run downtown.

The run will close Chestnut Street between Spring Street and Main Street from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. March 17.

• The board approved the installation of 13 street lights in section one of the Rolling Ridge subdivision.

The lights will cost $16,000 to install, and economic development income tax funds will be used to pay for them.

SO YOU KNOW

• The largest catfish caught in the Ohio River was 104 pounds near Cannelton Dam in 1999. A 106-pound paddlefish was reeled in by a Calvert City, Ky., man from the Ohio River in 2004.

— Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources