City code enforcement wrestles with Ringneck Trail property
May 16, 2017 at 6:24 p.m.
By David [email protected]
The property was before Code Enforcement Hearing Officer Lawrence Clifford again on Monday, with another hearing set for it at 1:30 p.m. June 19.
Kyle Babcock, a former Warsaw city councilman, had the home built more than 10 years ago, but it went into foreclosure in 2009 after problems with window wells, leaking water and mold became apparent. He and his family soon vacated the property due to the problems, and the property entered into litigation. At the Feb. 21 Code Enforcement Hearing, an attorney representing the mortgage company, Deutsche Bank, said a court hearing for summary judgment on the home was set for April 20.
At Monday’s code enforcement hearing, attorney Fredric Lawrence, representing Deutsche Bank, said, “On the foreclosure motion for a summary judgment, there was supposed to be a hearing in April. We continued it by agreement for 60 days. Mr. Babcock is trying to clean up a couple of liens so that we can do a deed in-lieu instead of the foreclosure process. So he’s still working on that while the hearing is going to be set for, I think July 20, if I remember correctly.”
While that part of the house issues is moving along, in regards to the code violations Lawrence said after the February hearing, the city had provided a list of issues to look at that still arose from the matter. He said they took that list and had an engineer go out to the property, look at the list, and come up with a plan to fix a couple of them related to structural issues. The items were corrected per the engineer’s report a couple of weeks ago. The city inspected the property last week on what was done, but the next day the city said there were additional issues and they had to show up for Monday’s hearing, Lawrence said.
“So I guess we’re here today to find out what still needs to be done and what might not have been done correctly,” Lawrence said. “But we’d also note that this goes back to a second code violation issue from July of last year. We believe that all of those issues had been remedied, and we would like either this code violation be closed and the city to open a new one so that we have some sort of understanding that the goal line doesn’t just keep moving in front of us.”
Building Commissioner Ray Behling replied, “But my response to that is that those issues came up because those walls were removed in the basement. That created new problems because they were removed. They weren’t new ones or ones we added. Because those walls were taken out, now we didn’t have the proper support.”
The guardrails/handrails going down the stairs were created because the wall was removed, but now they don’t exist. “A 2x4 screwed to another 2x4 is not a guardrail according to code and doesn’t work,” he said, noting there wasn’t anything to keep people from falling off the stairs.
Behling said when he was out there Thursday, he could only see a couple of things that were complete. Light fixtures were missing or hanging by wires, and smoke detectors aren’t in place. There also were problems with multi-plug adapters, beams and water was still coming into the basement but the water wasn’t on this list.
He said some of the issues now with the home were created by them when they moved the supports. “If we want to call that new, that’s fine, but it was not maybe there originally because it wasn’t there. It was supported by walls, and now because they took them out, they created this list. No matter what the original list says.”
Lawrence said they don’t object to getting on the same page as the city, but the problem is that they had the city out to the site last week but didn’t know what was going to be said at Monday’s hearing. He said if they had been told before Monday’s hearing what work was still needed, those problems could have been addressed.
He said they had an engineer’s recommendation on the supports. Behling said if he could get a statement from the engineer regarding that recommendation, that would be fine by him.
Lawrence said if they had 30 more days, they could get Behling’s request from the engineer and tackle some other items that still need addressed.
Looking at photos provided by the city, Clifford said some of the work to the house did look “shoddy.”
Clifford reset the hearing for 1:30 p.m. June 19.
The second hearing before Clifford Monday was a follow-up to the Feb. 21 hearing for the property at 519 N. Park Ave., owned by Faviola Duran. At the February hearing, Duran was given a nine-month extension to make repairs to the home, but until April 30 to fix the foundation. She said it’s still vacant and locked up.
Clifford asked Behling if there was any compliance to the property. Behling replied that no work has been done, but they contacted an architectural firm in town, SKRM architects. Behling said he talked with co-owner Jeff Kumfer, who was the person Duran’s sister, Noemi Saldivar, talked with, Monday morning and he provided Behling with a letter he had sent to Duran and Saldivar.
“So they have pursued a fix, based on the architect that went out and made an inspection on that property. He definitely saw some problems, but he gave some fixes for them, and I just have a couple of things that for me then would make this OK,”?Behling said.
Problems cited by the city include the foundation, floor joists, the front porch, roof, garage and electrical matters.
Saldivar said they’ve talked to several contractors about fixing the foundation and have narrowed it down to two or three. She said they were ready to start the work by the end of the month.
Clifford gave Duran until June 19 to complete the foundation work. If it wasn’t done by then, he said he would consider other options including civil penalties or demolition.
In one last item, Clifford reset a hearing for the property at 504 E. Fort Wayne St. for June 19. The property has been sold and Clifford wants her to be aware of the work needed for it and the timetable.
The property was before Code Enforcement Hearing Officer Lawrence Clifford again on Monday, with another hearing set for it at 1:30 p.m. June 19.
Kyle Babcock, a former Warsaw city councilman, had the home built more than 10 years ago, but it went into foreclosure in 2009 after problems with window wells, leaking water and mold became apparent. He and his family soon vacated the property due to the problems, and the property entered into litigation. At the Feb. 21 Code Enforcement Hearing, an attorney representing the mortgage company, Deutsche Bank, said a court hearing for summary judgment on the home was set for April 20.
At Monday’s code enforcement hearing, attorney Fredric Lawrence, representing Deutsche Bank, said, “On the foreclosure motion for a summary judgment, there was supposed to be a hearing in April. We continued it by agreement for 60 days. Mr. Babcock is trying to clean up a couple of liens so that we can do a deed in-lieu instead of the foreclosure process. So he’s still working on that while the hearing is going to be set for, I think July 20, if I remember correctly.”
While that part of the house issues is moving along, in regards to the code violations Lawrence said after the February hearing, the city had provided a list of issues to look at that still arose from the matter. He said they took that list and had an engineer go out to the property, look at the list, and come up with a plan to fix a couple of them related to structural issues. The items were corrected per the engineer’s report a couple of weeks ago. The city inspected the property last week on what was done, but the next day the city said there were additional issues and they had to show up for Monday’s hearing, Lawrence said.
“So I guess we’re here today to find out what still needs to be done and what might not have been done correctly,” Lawrence said. “But we’d also note that this goes back to a second code violation issue from July of last year. We believe that all of those issues had been remedied, and we would like either this code violation be closed and the city to open a new one so that we have some sort of understanding that the goal line doesn’t just keep moving in front of us.”
Building Commissioner Ray Behling replied, “But my response to that is that those issues came up because those walls were removed in the basement. That created new problems because they were removed. They weren’t new ones or ones we added. Because those walls were taken out, now we didn’t have the proper support.”
The guardrails/handrails going down the stairs were created because the wall was removed, but now they don’t exist. “A 2x4 screwed to another 2x4 is not a guardrail according to code and doesn’t work,” he said, noting there wasn’t anything to keep people from falling off the stairs.
Behling said when he was out there Thursday, he could only see a couple of things that were complete. Light fixtures were missing or hanging by wires, and smoke detectors aren’t in place. There also were problems with multi-plug adapters, beams and water was still coming into the basement but the water wasn’t on this list.
He said some of the issues now with the home were created by them when they moved the supports. “If we want to call that new, that’s fine, but it was not maybe there originally because it wasn’t there. It was supported by walls, and now because they took them out, they created this list. No matter what the original list says.”
Lawrence said they don’t object to getting on the same page as the city, but the problem is that they had the city out to the site last week but didn’t know what was going to be said at Monday’s hearing. He said if they had been told before Monday’s hearing what work was still needed, those problems could have been addressed.
He said they had an engineer’s recommendation on the supports. Behling said if he could get a statement from the engineer regarding that recommendation, that would be fine by him.
Lawrence said if they had 30 more days, they could get Behling’s request from the engineer and tackle some other items that still need addressed.
Looking at photos provided by the city, Clifford said some of the work to the house did look “shoddy.”
Clifford reset the hearing for 1:30 p.m. June 19.
The second hearing before Clifford Monday was a follow-up to the Feb. 21 hearing for the property at 519 N. Park Ave., owned by Faviola Duran. At the February hearing, Duran was given a nine-month extension to make repairs to the home, but until April 30 to fix the foundation. She said it’s still vacant and locked up.
Clifford asked Behling if there was any compliance to the property. Behling replied that no work has been done, but they contacted an architectural firm in town, SKRM architects. Behling said he talked with co-owner Jeff Kumfer, who was the person Duran’s sister, Noemi Saldivar, talked with, Monday morning and he provided Behling with a letter he had sent to Duran and Saldivar.
“So they have pursued a fix, based on the architect that went out and made an inspection on that property. He definitely saw some problems, but he gave some fixes for them, and I just have a couple of things that for me then would make this OK,”?Behling said.
Problems cited by the city include the foundation, floor joists, the front porch, roof, garage and electrical matters.
Saldivar said they’ve talked to several contractors about fixing the foundation and have narrowed it down to two or three. She said they were ready to start the work by the end of the month.
Clifford gave Duran until June 19 to complete the foundation work. If it wasn’t done by then, he said he would consider other options including civil penalties or demolition.
In one last item, Clifford reset a hearing for the property at 504 E. Fort Wayne St. for June 19. The property has been sold and Clifford wants her to be aware of the work needed for it and the timetable.
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