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BOW nearly cracks down on Washington St. nuisance property



The Delphi Board of Works (BOW) routinely hears a report about nuisance properties being addressed by the city at the bimonthly meetings and progress is tracked by members, Delphi Mayor Anita Werling, Spencer Kingery and Kamron Yates. The May 2 meeting was no exception.

Delphi Community Development Director JT Doane reported the property owner for 402 S. Washington St. was sent a formal notice to abate issues on his property earlier in April and given the deadline of April 29 for substantial completion of the work listed in the abatement notice. Doane reported that, although he met with the property owner April 29 and found him to be “still kind of working,” the work was still not completed on that date.

Doane said estimates to fully remediate the situation will cost between $30,000 and $35,000. He asked for guidance from the BOW.

“We can’t keep letting him go on like this,” Kingery stated after he noted the expensive price tag for the abatement.

Werling instructed Doane to obtain more recent quotes for the work. The BOW decided to give the property owner a “last chance” before taking action. Work is required to show substantial completion by May 16. If this does not happen, it was determined the city will hire a contractor to do the work and will bill the property owner.

“I think this is it,” Kingery stated.

According to the GIS database for Carroll County, the deeded owner of 402 S. Washington St., which has two parcels, is Ken Echols of Logansport. The property tax balance due on one parcel is $4,072.24 and on the second parcel is $3,627.16. Both include late fee penalties.

Fence proposal

The owner of 915 Samuel Milroy Rd., Jake Grist, requested to put a fence outside of his property line and on a Delphi rightof way. Werling advised the house is in the right-of-way at one point.

Grist, who said he bought the house last November, is willing to compromise to be able to give his home privacy and safety. Street Commissioner Aaron Lyons said if it is decided to widen the road the fence would have to be moved if it is allowed in the right-of-way. In addition, Lyons said when there is a heavy snowfall, such as what happened last winter, drivers of snowplows must have someplace to push the snow to and if the fence is in the right-of-way, they may be unable to do the proper job.

Werling suggested a compromise to let Grist locate his fence in the right-of-way with a written agreement, in effect a variance from the zoning ordinance, about what will happen when the fence is deemed to be in the way at some point. The vote was 2 to 3 to the compromise given stated stipulations. Yates, who is the County’s Area Plan Zoning Administrator and Director, abstained to vote citing his position with the county.

Property sale

Werling advised the land behind Save-A-Lot, which is where Well #6 is located, was included in the approved Residential Tax Incremental Financing (R-TIF) district and must be re-zoned to suit the needs of an individual who wants to purchase it for residential development. Currently the property is zoned Industrial and must be zoned Urban 1 to suit the buyer. She said there are stipulations when a government entity wants to sell property and a formal public hearing is scheduled for May 16 at 5:15 p.m. at the Delphi Community Center.

A petition to rezone the property will be heard at the May 24 Carroll County Area Plan Commission meeting at 6 p.m. held in Room 209 in the county courthouse.

Other business

BOW members approved excavating permits for contractor Jeff Watson to build two homes near the Wabash & Erie Canal.

Claims for $545,502.93 were unanimously approved.

The next BOW meeting will be May 16 at 5 p.m. at the Delphi Community Center.

The recorded video of this meeting can be found on YouTube on the “Debbie Lowe” channel.