Condemned houses sit for how long?
By FRED PARRIS Kansan Staff Correspondent
At least 18 abandoned houses sit within the Lawrence city limits. Virtually all are located in older low-income neighborhoods.
City officials say it takes only several months to condemn and demolish the crumbling structures. All that is needed to set machinery in motion is a call to the building inspectors office.
Lawrence residents living near the wrecks, however, tell a considerably different story.
- An empty house at 1236 New Jersey St., for example, has stood empty for five years. Neighbors say they have complained to the city several times over the years—with no effect.
- Another structure, at 316 Perry St. in North Lawrence has been vacant eight years.
- At 1116 Pennsylvania St. still another house, the Methuslah of abandoned buildings, has stood empty 10 years, despite numerous protests by neighbors.
Snowed under
Spokesmen for the city building inspectors office claim they are snowed under by a rash of new construction in Lawrence and that they have neither the time nor staff to take care of the problem. Confusion exists as to whether the city can do anything about even the most dangerous of the wrecks.
Regardless of age, the empty structures spell the same thing to persons living near them-trouble.
The most commonly voiced concern is blight. The decrepit appearance of the single abandoned house, residents say, depresses property values on the entire block.
Fire is another worry. The mixture of weeds, frame construction and interior litter provide a volatile combination for flames. Fire trucks have made at least three runs to abandoned houses within the last year, Lawrence Fire Captain Lee Burns said.
Threat to children
Most frightening of all, however is the threat the structures pose to children.
Structurally unsound and littered with glass, parents claim the houses are potential deathtraps for unwary youngsters. Without exception, mothers say they have warned their children to avoid the hazardous structures.
The parental warnings are not always heeded. Neighbors say children from blocks around come on bicycles to play in the empty houses.
A 14-year-old on New Jersey Street offered to give a guided tour of his abandoned house, including the crumbling upstairs.
Children have been seen playing in and around another wreck on Michigan Street, where nail studded lumber is piled just inside the door.
Rotting garbage
In several structures, only the stench of rotting garbage prevents the structures from becoming play time havens—like an abandoned structure in North Lawrence which offers children "double the fun." There, the structure also serves as a graveyard for rusting auto carcasses. Double the fun. Double the danger.
But before his office can remove abandoned structures, City Building Inspector Kenneth Jorgensen said, the city must go through a lengthly legal procedure.
Upon becoming aware of an abandoned house, the office must conduct a title search. This job requires abstractors, Jorgensen said, and can take up to two weeks.
After the owner and other interested parties are contacted, a hearing date is set, generally for 30 days later. If the owner doesn't respond to the first order, said Jorgensen, a second summons is sent allowing another 30 days.
If there is no response after two orders, the building inspector said, his office obtains a permit from the city commission allowing proceedings against the house without the owners consent.
By the time all of the legal provisions are met, Jorgensen said, a minimum of 90 days have passed.
The housing ordinance provides that owners who do appear are entitled to petition the Douglas County District Court for an injunction order which would prevent any city action. This injunction is good for up to 30 day's delay.
Take 10-15 together
Even then, legal permission to tear down a house does not mean it will be removed immediately, Jorgensen said. To save the city money, he asserts, "We usually try to get 10 to 15 of them together before we let bids" for removal. Houses are often allowed to stand for months after they have been officially condemned, waiting for "10 or 15."
Even if the house poses an immediate safety threat city officials aren't certain whether they can act prior to the conclusion of condemnation proceedings.
City Manager Ray Wells says that if a house is a definite hazard in the judgment of the building inspector, the city can board it up. Building Inspector Jorgensen, however, said that he didn't know if he had this authority. No such steps have been taken by his office, he said.
No provision in code
The city's current minimum housing code makes no provisions for such a situation-a situation which some persons feel exists in more than one empty house.
And Jorgensen points out that until June,1966,the city apparently didn't even have a building code.
He complains too, that his three-man staff is far too small to check abandoned and substandard housing, plus check the plans and construction of every new building in Lawrence, enforce zoning and sign ordinances and conduct electrical and plumbing inspections.
Residents living near the city's abandoned structures say Jorgens's assertion is all too correct—that all his office's other duties have priority over inspection of abandoned housing.
Must be fitted in
While Jorgensen says eliminating the blight and safety hazards must be fitted in where time allows, some residents think 10 years—the length of time some houses have stood abandoned—is a bit long by any standard. Several residents pointed out that new construction is relatively limited during winter months.
But while city officials talk, local citizens live—and life next door to a run-down house doesn't present a pretty view.
One long time sufferer is Mrs. Carl White, 1234 New Jersey. The crumbling wreck next to her home, she said., has been abandoned five years. She has called the city several times to complain, she said, but all they ever tell her is that they'll "be out as soon as they can."
In one sense, she said, the house isn't abandoned at all.
Germ-bearing rats infest the interior, and occasionally venture outdoors.
Tramps find temporary shelter amid the structure's broken furniture.
Neighborhood children, not having a park playground nearby, use the weed-surrounded wreck as a recreation area, she said.
Well posed danger
An open 20-foot well in the backyard posed another danger, Mrs. White said, until her husband covered it with weed and heavy rocks.
"I sure will be glad to get rid of it," she said wistfully, glancing at the wreck.
Another beleagured home-owner is Mrs. J. Gfeller, 330 Perry St. Mrs. Gfeller has double trouble. Not one but two crumbling vacant houses sit next to her.
One house, at 326 Perry St. she said, has been abandoned for three years. The other, at 316 Perry St., is an oldtimer, having been abandoned for at least eight years. Both structures are fully equipped as abandoned houses go, with weeds, rusty junked cars in the back, and plenty of rubble and broken glass.
While Mrs. Gfeller worries about all of the problems associated with abandoned houses—fire, vermin, neighborhood blight, etc.-her most immediate concern is for the weeds which surround the vacant wreck just to the west of her home. These tangled monsters, she says, which reach as high as the roof drainpipes, threaten to engulf her entire homestead–vard, house and all.
Planted garden
To prevent this, she said, she has planted a large garden between her house and the weeds. It involves a good deal of work, she says, but is necessary to keep from being overrun.
A third couple learning to live with a vacant house next door are Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Johnson, 1108 Pennsylvania. In their case, however, the eyesore is neither old nor "abandoned."
Started as a "do it yourself" homebuilding project by a Lawrence citizen, the structure was left unfinished after the city forced him to stop. For 10 years, neighbors say, the half-completed
house has stood there-windowless, surrounded by dirt and weeds and a perennial source of neighborhood blight.
No official action
On several occasions, said Mrs. Johnson, she has called the City-County Health Department about the structure. Officials said they would take care of the matter, she said, but never did.
"It seemed to be just anything to shut us up after we called," she recalls with annoyance, "to make us believe they were going to do something."
A new problem arose this year, Mrs. Johnson said, when her insurance company refused to provide fire coverage because of the abandoned house. This was eventually worked out, she said, but it made her consider moving just to get away from the wreck.
One couple moved
One couple who actually did move to escape the blight-inducing structure are Mr. and Mrs. Martin Henry, 1116 New Jersey St. After years of fruitless battling to get the eyesore removed, the Henry's finally moved themselves.
"At least now, I can look out the window and not see that thing." Mrs. Henry said.
The Whites, Johnsons and Gfellers are not alone in their feelings about the empty, decaying wrecks. Many other persons living near abandoned houses expressed irritation that such wrecks should be in their midst.
A surprising number, however, felt there was nothing they could do. Many had seen the efforts of neighbors come to nothing and concluded it was a hopeless situation.
Also, poorer renters feared the consequences of speaking out. In at least one case, courthouse records show, the owner of the abandoned house was also their landlord.
And so the matter stands. Bight thrives, citizens chafe and complain and the dty, preoccupied with checking its new growth, finds little time to maintain what it already has.
Grown up in weeds
Staff photo
Nail-studded lumber, broken glass and fallen tree limbs are hidden by weeds surrounding this abandoned house at 737 Michigan St.