MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Morgantown city council could schedule another nuisance property abatement hearing at the next meeting, Tuesday.
Council reviewed the issue back in March and set an initial hearing date of March 17, 2020 for properties at 625 Pennsylvania, 324 Dewey Street and 619 Brockway Avenue. According to Monongalia County Land Records all three properties are owned by Berthy G. Herald Jr.
The 619 Brockway Avenue property was the scene of a two-alarm fire Friday, February 28. Witnesses saw two males and one female wearing dark clothes run from the burning home with large backpacks. They have not been apprehended.
“We had 16 firefighters on that fire within eight minutes of the call,”Morgantown Fire Chief Mark Caravosos said,”They were able to contain the structure, keep it to the structure. They did their job.”
The nuisance abatement declaration (Article 1149) allows both sides to present evidence to council and they will determine if it is, or is not a nuisance.
The property owner could be ordered to take corrective action in prescribed amount of time. If the property owner fails to act the city could complete corrective measures and place a lien on the property.
If city council determines any one, or all of the locations are permanent nuisance an order prohibiting use can be issued.
All actions can be appealed by the property owner.
Resident and property owner near the properties in the Greenmont neighborhood, Adelheid Schaupp proposed a nuisance ordinance to council recently. However, some residents expressed opposition to the plan citing a lack of due process and they are often used to target minority renters and come with unintended consequences to domestic violence victims.
For now, Scaupp says pursuing the nuisance property abatement process is the only option.
“By putting this into play we can run this through city council and see how this process works,”Schaupp said,”And how long it would take to get abatement.”
Another Greenmont resident, Barbara Parsons also wants the city to take action on the properties.
“They’re dangerous, they’re unsafe and people do go in,”Parsons said,”They shouldn’t be there and it’s creating a problem.”
“This property owner tends to be difficult to do deal with, and we’re waiting to see if going through this existing 1149 nuisance ordinance would work because the city has never gone this route before,” Schaupp said.
Morgantown city council meets virtually at 7 p.m. Tuesday.