City set to settle lawsuit with property owner
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By BETH ZUMWALT
The City of Pittsfield has indicated a three-plus year lawsuit with Lisa Asprocolas, owner of the property, in the 100 block of East Adams, and other involved co-defendants may be nearing an end. The matter was discussed at the June 16 regular meeting of the council.
Asprocolas owned the property where the Irving Law Firm was located. The property fell into disrepair and was not only a safety hazard, but, was a danger to the adjoining buildings to the east.
“When the building finally did fall, it fell onto the building to the east which was a beauty shop at the time” Gary Mendenhall, mayor of the city, said. “It caused a lot of damage.”
Eventually, the city footed the bill for both buildings to be taken down and hauled away to the tune of $98,000. That number included repairs to the Serenity Day Spa building, the next building in the line.
The city then sued Asprocilas for that amount.
She countered with an offer to sell the city the two lots at nearly four times the market value.
“Meanwhile we have ran up tremendous legal bills and wasted a lot of time,” Mendenhall said.
The terms of the agreement are not public knowledge as of yet and won’t be until all parties involved and the judge overseeing the case agree. Included in the case are some contractors Asprocolas had hired.
“It’s is not the agreement we would have liked,” Mendenhall said. “But, we are getting no where with negotiations and the legal fees just keep mounting.”
Mendenhall said it is hoped the city can sell the two lots, which are deep, but, not too wide.
“We’d like to get somebody to build something there and we can collect taxes on the building and if it is a retail store, we would get some sales tax,” Mendenhall said.
Mendenhall said he has also had calls from some developers regarding the site of the former Wright’s Auto at the corner of Memorial and Adams. The building suffered a catastrophic fire in late January and the business has since located to West Washington.
In further action regarding projects in the city, the council entered into an agreement to allow the city’s TIF administrator, Steve Kline, to draw up an agreement between the city and Braden Damon.
Damon is under a tentative contract to purchase the former JBS Milling Company on North Madison Street and adjacent property and develop it into housing. It estimated the property will hold anywhere from 15-20 houses depending on single family units or duplexes. There is a possibility of a multi- living facility.
Damon will purchase the property and the city will front him the money to do environmental studies, legal expenses, architectural, engineering, site stabilization, and other work necessary to build. No TIF money can be used for actual construction, but, may be used for utility expansion and other work.
“I know a lot of people will wonder why we are doing this,” Mendenhall said. “But the property has set empty for years. It is an eye sore and a hazard. Somebody has to do something. This is the only offer we have had. We can wait until it gets worse and then have to demolish the structures ourselves. We would have to pay prevailing wage and that would drive the cost up even more. It would cost us $1 million to clean it up. And projects like this are what theTIF district is intended. This is the cheapest way to get the property cleared, serve a purpose and get on the tax rolls.”
Mendenhall admitted the situation was unique.
“Where else is there a depilated commercial business that needs to have something done with it?” Mendenhall said. “ No, we may not be able to do this for every project, but, this is one that needs to be done.”
Damon has said he plans to build 3 bedroom, 2 bath duplexes with garages on the property.
The city also promised to continue its agreement with the bench boards around town. Supposedly the business is for sale and a prospective buyer wants assurances the city will continue to let the businesses use the city’s right of way for placement. In return the city gets 10 percent of the fees collected.
The council also discussed new tornado sirens. The one on the downtown water tower was inadvertently destroyed when the water tower was repaired a few years ago.
“The contractor is going to replace it at a cost of $23,000,” Mendenhall said. “But, we would like to have another one at the lake, near the ball diamond and another west of town.”
The council stopped short of agreeing to purchase the two addition sirens at a cost of $44,000 after learning a FEMA grant might be available for a portion or all of the cost.
The city also hosted a member of the USDA earlier in the week and learned there are several grants and low interest loans that would be of benefit to the city.
“Not only would it be good for us, but, they would want us to use a local bank,” Mendenhall said. “These types of loans don’t go against a bank’s income to loan ration and there is a small amount of interest do the bank can make money. All banks have to be certified to handle USDA loans and currently no Pittsfield bank is.
“We are going be reaching out to them and see if any are interested,” Mendenhall said.
The city’s new firetruck is due late June or early July, ahead of schedule.