BELLAIRE Late Monday, the house at 4172 Harrison St. belonging to Sonya Shreve still stood.
The scheduled demolition of her house has been stalled, although that delay appears to be only temporary.
Village officials confirmed Monday that the demolition will go ahead as scheduled.
Marla Krupnik, the village's deputy clerk and demolition liaison, believes the village has followed all the proper procedures and is within its right to tear down Shreve's house.
One point of contention Shreve had was during a June council meeting, a motion was passed during executive session to demolish the home.
Krupnik pointed out that a vote was taken during the open portion of the meeting following the executive session. She states the minutes from the meeting will reflect as such.
What transpired during the executive session, however, still remains in question as official minutes of the sessions are not recorded.
Krupnik also explained that Shreve was asked how long it would take her to get her possessions out of the home and responded that she only had a few tools inside.
This conflicts with Shreve's statement that her possessions, along with two family pets were inside the residence currently.
"The mayor asked her if two weeks would be enough and she said she only had some tools left in the house," Krupnik said. "She's just trying to play the sympathy card I think. The house isn't safe. It's a hazard to the neighbors in the area."
Shreve previously stated her lawyer had drafted a response letter to the village following the early June meeting, stating she wished to utilize her 30 days and fix up the property to avoid demolition.
Krupnik explained neither she nor city solicitor Ed Sustercic nor mayor Vince DiFabrizio received a copy of the letter.
The main issues stems from the legality of the initial building permit that Shreve received on Oct. 20, 2011 that was signed by then-code enforcer Jim Chase. That permit was good for a year, ending on Oct. 20, 2012.
Krupnik's opinion was that permit wasn't valid and that an initial 30-day permit, followed by subsequent 30-day extensions should have been granted instead.
On the bottom of Shreve's 1-year permit, however, it clearly states that:
"Permit will become null and void if construction work is not started within six months of date the permit is issued as noted above."
So whether or not the 1-year permit should have been issued, the details of said permit were clearly defined.
According to Krupnik, the permit no longer is the major issue. The village had Edward Hess inspect the house.
Hess's findings were that the house was not safe, was causing a hazard to neighboring homes and in his estimation, it needed to come down.
"In my considered opinion as a building inspector, this house needs to be removed for the safety of the surrounding homes," Hess wrote in his report.
A few of the problems he listed include: the front porch roof was all but gone with rotten trusses that could collapse, all of the gutters were either missing or collapsing and his main issue was that a tarp was covering the back of the house. There were parts of the interior that were visible and being exposed to the elements.
He wrote the house was a definite health, fire and safety hazard. Nowhere does it state, however, that the house is "unable to be fixed."
Shreve has since enclosed the back of the house where the tarp was. The front porch roof was removed and there are gutters on the house.
Krupnik said the demolition was still planned to take place but was unsure of a time and date.
Hughes may be reached at mhughes@timesleaderonline.com
