Demolishing houses---International Property Maintenance Code

[Guest guest]

Interesting article. It mentions how this city adopted the " International

Property Maintenance Code " and is demolishing a moldy house because they have

that Code in effect. I thought some of you might like to know about this so you

can tell your public officials about the IPMC and ask that they enact it in our

cities. You can find information about the IPMC by doing a search on the

Internet.

W.S. to demolish condemned home

By Abraham Aboraya

September 09, 2009 WINTER

SPRINGS - The house Cruz has lived in since 1976 will likely be

demolished in the next month after being condemned by the city of

Winter Springs.

The house on Gator Lane, visible from Tuskawilla Road, is in

shambles. The roof is missing large patches, revealing the trusses

beneath and the darkened interior. There's a " keep out " sign stapled to

a tree, and an ominous letter on the door warns potential visitors that

the property is condemned and entry could result in death.

It's been more than five years since Cruz's home was damaged by

Hurricane Charley in 2004, but Cruz said he never got enough money from

his insurance company to cover the repairs. He even took them to court

and lost.

" [The insurance company] really treated us like, well, I don't want

to use a four-letter word, " Cruz said Saturday at the house he's now

renting from his father-in-law in unincorporated Winter Springs. " They

treated us like dung. "

Cruz said that Alamina, the building official for Winter

Springs, did everything he could do to keep the house from being

condemned. But after five years of pressure from neighbors, the

homeowner's association and the police department, there was nothing

left to be done.

Cruz said that he got money from FEMA, but it also wasn't enough. He

tried to get another loan to do the repairs, but that was denied. In

the end, he simply didn't have the money, and so the city went forward

with condemning the property.

At the last City Commission meeting, they approved spending at most $12,000 to

level the house down to the foundation.

" [Alamina] did everything possible to make sure the house wasn't

demolished - he really was a wonderful person, " Cruz said. " His hands

were tied. We had the neighborhood, we had the police department, we

had the homeowners association, we had everybody complaining against

us. "

The city of Winter Springs adopted the International Property

Maintenance Code last year, and this was the first time the city has

used it to condemn a property. Randy son, the community

development director of Winter Springs, said the city currently has

three bids from contractors to demolish the house.

son said that the city never wants to condemn a property.

They've tried to work with Cruz to fix the property, he said, issuing

two permits for the repairs, both of which weren't acted on.

" It's not something the city likes to do, " son said. " But in

this case, we've had a lot of complaints, and we've bent over backwards

to work with this gentleman and his wife. "

son said there are two main concerns: One is aesthetics,

because the property is blighted. But from a public safety standpoint,

son said there were concerns about another hurricane would do to

the property.

" First of all, it looks bad, " son said. " And second of all, if

we did get any wind of substantial consequence, those members from the

crumbling roof structure could become missiles. "

City Attorney Garganese said that, while this was the first

time the city used the new code, the city has always had the power to

condemn properties. He said that after the 30-day appeal period ends,

the project will be put to bid and the city will " abate the nuisance. "

" The city's been fortunate in that they really haven't had to deal

with this issue very much, " Garganese said. " There's a lot of the

cities I represent, this is a more prevalent problem, where they

frequently have to take down structures that are a danger to the

neighborhood. "

After Charley came through, Cruz said they put a blue tarp over the

roof, a common sight in Florida a few years back. But the wind and rain

eventually destroyed the tarp while he was waiting to get things

settled, and by then, Cruz said it was too dangerous to get back on the

roof.

By November of that year, they had moved out of city limits to the

house they currently rent " because the mold was taking over the house. "

Even still, Cruz, who retired from Eastern Airlines in the '90s, said

they still pay the mortgage on the house.

Once it's demolished, he said he plans to pursue a bad faith claim against his

lender.

" We are faithfully paying that mortgage, " Cruz said. " I'm just

waiting for the house to be demolished so that I can go back to the

lawyer and see what we can do. Either stop mortgage or something. "

http://www.seminolechronicle.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2009/09/09/4aa830404164e

[Guest guest]

One more Floridian who was left behind by insurance, FEMA and the city because I

am sure that area also recieved funds for the victims of the hurricanes, why did

the city not help.  Sounds similar to what happened to us ! 

 We got nothing from FEMA,

 

God Bless !!

dragonflymcs

Mayleen

________________________________

From: <brianc8452@...>

Sent: Wednesday, September 9, 2009 10:31:22 PM

Subject: [] Demolishing houses---International Property Maintenance

Code

The house on Gator Lane, visible from Tuskawilla Road, is in

shambles. The roof is missing large patches, revealing the trusses

beneath and the darkened interior. There's a " keep out " sign stapled to

a tree,