CASPER, Wyo. — Casper residents have become more aware about “dangerous buildings.” Although that awareness is a good thing, it’s hard on the city because sometimes funding for demolition falls on the residents as taxpayers.
“As Council is aware, we’ve been anxiously engaged in trying to deal with properties that have gone a long time without any attention, and as a result it becomes a public safety hazard,” City Manager Carter Napier told the City Council during its work session at its temporary chambers at The Lyric, 230 W. Yellowstone Highway.
People living near these properties have been doing their part to report dangerous buildings, Napier said. “I’m happy to say we’ve made a lot of progress.”
Chief Building Official Justin Scott told the council his office has identified and worked on nine dangerous buildings; some have been or are being rehabilitated, while others have been demolished.
However, it’s not cheap when the city has to take over, Scott said, adding that the city has had to pay only twice.
“The average cost to post and secure a property is $1,250 and the demolition can run anywhere from $15,000 to $30,000 or more depending on the size and complexity of the structure(s),” Scott wrote in a memo to Napier, and said again Tuesday. Once reported, he said representatives of Code Enforcement, the Building Department and often the Casper Fire-EMS Department will investigate the building.
A “dangerous” property, as defined in the 1988 edition of the “Uniform Code of Abatement of Dangerous Buildings,” includes 18 criteria including inadequate means of egress, fire and/or structural damage, being a harbor for vagrants or a harbor which enables criminal activities and being unfit for human habitation because of inadequate heat, light or sanitation facilities.
Therefore, Scott’s office has developed a flow chart to deal with them, he said, adding that many of the problem buildings have had a history with law enforcement, drug use or concern to neighbors.
Once city offices have deemed a building dangerous, they notify the owner and give them a period of time to bring them into compliance, he said. Owners can comply or file an appeal, but if the owner fails to take action, whether by securing permits for rehabilitation or demolition, then the city records an order of notice with Natrona County and proceeds with abatement.
In response to a question from Vice Mayor Lisa Engebretsen, Scott said the city’s public services department will determine if it can safely remove a house. If it can, the city will do it; otherwise it will hire an outside and more specialized contractor to deal with the property, including asbestos abatement.
City Attorney Eric Nelson said the city can file a lien against the property owner to recoup its expenses, but it also can file a lawsuit against the owner.
Scott showed before and after pictures of a drug house that had no utilities and once had a fire inside. “The neighborhood was terrified of this house,” he said.
The house was sold to an investor who gutted it and renovated it, he said. “It literally went from the worst house in the neighborhood to the nicest house on the block.”
Below is the flow chart Scott presented that the city would use to determine how it would use to deal with dangerous buildings “in house” and through a private contractor:
