Hearing Officer Orders Demolition, Civil Penalty For Arnolt Corp. Property
Posted
Jennifer Peryam-jperyam@timesuniononline.com
Warsaw Hearing Officer Lawrence Clifford ordered demolition of the Arnolt Corp. property during a hearing at city hall Monday afternoon. The 66,000-square-foot building at 2525 E. Durbin St., across from Warsaw Chemical, has been deemed unsafe by the city. Clifford also ordered a $5,000 civil penalty against Arnolt Corp. and ordered the premises to be sealed and vacated immediately. County Superior Court 2 issued an order last Friday that the premises be vacated by July 10. During Monday’s hearing, Jim Walmer, who was appointed by Superior Court to manage the property, said he is the receiver of the property. Courts appoint receivers to take custody of, manage and preserve money or property that is subject to litigation so that when the final judgment is rendered, the property remains available to accomplish what has been ordered. He said Our Father’s House uses the property for a storage area, and a man rents out a portion of the property for $65 a month for storage. The building and planning department, Warsaw Police Department and Warsaw-Wayne Township Fire Department did an inspection of the building and found the building vacant and unsecured, portions of the roof missing, no sprinkler system, and numerous one-pot meth manufacturing items and discarded precursors also were discovered inside the building. There also was a large amount of household items and junk as well as cottage cheese cartons in the building. “I looked at the photos closely and I didn’t see a single thing you would take home to grandma,” Clifford said. Joe Fretz, Warsaw-Wayne Township Fire Department marshal, showed photos of the items during the hearing. Fretz said there are broken windows, the side of the building is deteriorating and the roof is in disrepair. “It has become a dumpsite, is what it has become,” said Todd Slabaugh, building commissioner. Slabaugh said it would cost half a million dollars to repair the building, and estimated demolition at $200,000. Mike Brubaker, Warsaw-Wayne Township fire chief, said the building poses a fire hazard in its condition and that the contents and structural damage to the property is an issue. “This needs to be dealt with quickly from a fire perspective,” Brubaker said. In other business, Clifford re-set a hearing for July 20 at 1:30 p.m. at city hall to allow a mortgage company to state their intentions with the property at 108 N. Park Ave. The home was previously occupied by Phil Smith, but is vacant. Clifford imposed an additional $2,000 civil penalty during a hearing May 18 against Nationstar, Springfield, Ohio, that owns the property. The fine was in addition to a $2,500 civil penalty he ordered during an April 20 hearing. The city received complaints about the home having boarded up windows and exposed framing, a dilapidated rear porch, no siding and electrical service to the home is disconnected.
