Nixon takes steps to address substandard homes within city limits

The city of Nixon continues to fight a battle to identify substandard housing within city limits and make sure it is either brought up to code or removed.

At the December monthly Nixon City Council meeting, Code Enforcement Officer Rachel Barber addressed council regarding four specific properties that were found to be in violation of Ordinance 2022-05-09 regarding Substandard Building Regulations.

However, Barber noted in a later report to the council that she had created a spreadsheet showing vacant and/or substandard houses within the city that also notes whether they are vacant, substandard, unsanitary and whether there are utilities attached to and working at the homes.

She said she had identified 100 properties in Nixon that appeared in one of those categories, including 10 homes that people are living in without utilities. Some of these homes are being occupied by squatters or as shelter for transients or the homeless.

Barber said she had sent out letters to property owners, notifying them their properties fail to meet the minimum standards for code.

“The letters that I sent out were surprisingly better than I thought it was going to and people are actually contacting me and starting to schedule inspections so that we can actually go over their houses,” Barber said. “I’m not saying that every person on that list has, but I would say about anywhere from 25 to 30 percent so far has.

“I've also gotten quite a few return letters, so I'm going to try to do a little bit more digging into those, specifically to try to figure out the ownership. There is a considerable amount of those properties that have back taxes owed as well. My goal is eventually, not in the next year, but the next couple of years, to get all those houses either where they're taken down or brought back up to code.”

During the meeting, council members met as a Board of Appeals regarding properties at 206 W. Third Ave., 508 N. Travis, 903 N. Lowery and the old Boone house in the 600 block of N. Washington.

In dealing with 206 W. Third Ave, which Barber said she traced ownership to an American Holly Properties LLC, she described the property as “extremely disgusting outside, to be completely honest.”

“There was trash, rubbish, human feces and a bunch of other stuff that was out there,” Barber said. “(Utilities Director Jeremy Bustos’) guys unfortunately had to deal with it and help me clean the outside of it. We did abate it, and were able to get the outside of the house cleaned up in the backyard so that at least the smell wasn't there anymore, and remove all the tires and trash.”

The structure itself is substandard and to the point that it started to lean when one of the works accidentally barely touched a support beam. Barber said it was infested with all manner of vermin and also had a large hornet’s nest inside.

Barber said the “whole back side of the house is completely open, where there is nothing at all keeping anybody in or out” of the structure. She said American Holly Properties did try to secure the front door, but the wood frame is so badly rotted that it won’t support screws.

At one time, a female was allegedly squatting in the house, but has since left for another property in town, Barber added. American Holly Properties apparently bought the property sight unseen at a foreclosure auction and now they do not wish to do anything else to the property but sell it as is.

“There's a possibility if, since it is owned by a corporation that if our attorney will reach out, they may be willing to act with an attorney, but everything they told me is, they want to sell it,” Barber said. “They don't want to tear it down. They don’t want to put the money into it. They bought it at a higher price than they originally thought they were going to and then realized how bad it was.”

Council members voted to send out a notice to the owners they have 30 days to either bring the property into compliance or take it down and a lien is being placed against the property by the city for the abatement work already performed. If the owners refuse to comply, the structure will be knocked down by the city and a lien placed on the property for that work as well.

For 508 N. Travis, Barber said the house has structural issues and is leaning and siding is coming down off the outside. Windows have been broken out and it is not boarded up properly. The house has been vacant for many years, though the yard has not been as much of an issue as the previous property.

“This is not as bad as (Third Avenue), however, it is still a structural issue,” Barber said. “We've had multiple people start going to the house to dump animals as well as kids going around the house. Recently, some of the neighbors have complained about this one as well.”

Owners of the property were present for the meeting and because they took the time to show up, Barber said she was willing to give them 30 days to bring the property into compliance. If after 30 days, the owners have shown progress, the city can extend them additional time to complete the work. The council agreed and voted to do just that.

For 903 N. Lowery, Barber said the owners live in Tyler and didn’t know the property had gotten into the shape it was.

“When I originally started with Nixon, the grass was taller than me, and sunflowers were absolutely taller than me,” Barber said. “The next door neighbor actually went and cut it, from my understanding. However, once it was cut, I could see the actual structure itself. The windows are mostly broken out. There's no boarding. It is completely invested with different types of hornets, wasps and bees. It does appear that somebody is trying to move there or squat there. The owner says there's not supposed to be anybody there.

“The entire front of the house is structurally inadequate. It is leaning considerably and the porch you can't get on without possibly falling through.”

Barber said that because the owners of the North Lowery property did contact her, she is willing to give them 30 days as well to bring it into compliance and the council voted to do so.

Finally, on the old Boone house, Barber said the city had previously taken action to force compliance and nothing had ever happened on it. She said family members have been taking things out of the house and the siding appeared to be pulled off for use elsewhere.

Barber said she spoke to one of the heirs, who said “they're not paying the taxes on it. They have no intention of paying the taxes on it. It's too expensive right now for them to change the property to their name, which is why it's still in the deceased father's name, and they have no intention of doing anything with the house.”

“The house was abated last month by the city. We went in and mowed, at which point we found that there was an extremely large hive of what the utility workers said were aggressive bees. They didn't look like regular honeybees,” Barber said.

“This house has a complete section of the roof that's been ripped off. The windows are all broken out. There's currently an entire family, including baby vultures, living in the house.”

Council members voted to have the home demolished after a 30-day window during which the owners have the right to fight the ruling and after it is demolished, the city will place a lien on the property.

City Administrator Darryl Becker told council members the problem with the city tearing down substandard structures is that “you're going to tear it down and then put a lien on the property and it’s going to be a few years before the city seems any type of return on them. “

“Would be more effective to the city if we were able to tear them down on our time and our dime, but board them up to be secured until we’re able to get to them?” Becker suggested. “We have like 100 houses in town that are sitting on lots and not drawing any taxes anx we’re having to send in officers there and we worry about the safety of our officers and the safety of the community and everything else.

We have a lot of bills coming forward for the city and grants and a lot of things that are going to cost money. If you want to try and do one we can see what an average cost for this is going to be. Just putting up two roll-off dumpsters is $1,800 right off the top and we’re probably going to have to look at getting some outside help to get this done as well as the right equipment.”

Becker suggested using the Boone house as a test case to determine what the cost to the city is to demolish a substandard structure so they can know how to better proceed with future cases.