Council considers fate of vacant building
WAYNESBURG – Council members agreed Monday to have the borough engineer inspect the former council chambers building to determine what can be done with the dilapidated property.
Council agreed to ask K-2 Engineering to inspect the building on South Morgan Street behind the existing borough building after being informed by the county tax claim bureau a bid was offered from Farley Toothman to buy the building for $1,000.
The two-story, brick building was once owned by the borough and housed council chambers and street department. The borough sold the building about 15 years ago after it was determined to be unsafe because of structural damage.
About two years ago, the building was put up for sale to settle the estate of one of the owners of Waynesburg Hotel Lounge Inc., which owned the building then. Council was approached about purchasing it at that time and decided against it.
The building was subsequently put up for sale for delinquent taxes.
The property is assessed at $14,040, according to the tax claim bureau, and $2,364 in taxes is owed.
Assistant Borough Manager Bryan Cumberledge told council a letter received from the tax claim bureau indicated the bureau approved the private sale of the property for $1,000 plus fees.
The borough and other taxing bodies, the county and school district, can oppose the sale by petitioning the court within 45 days, the letter stated.
The borough earlier had K-2 Engineering inspect the building, which was found to have numerous code violations. The building was determined to be “uninhabitable” because of structural issues, Cumberledge said.
The buyer of the property will have to be made aware of those violations and will have to agree to address them, he told council.
Cumberledge said Toothman, who is Greene County’s president judge, has proposed using the building for storage if he’s successful with the purchase.
He said he would have K-2 look at the building again to determine what would have to be done to make it safe to be used for that purpose only. A higher standard would probably have to be applied should the building be used by the public, he said.
Council also discussed whether the borough might want the property, possibly as a place to shelter borough police cars. Councilman Mark Fischer said it also might be worth checking to see if the borough could obtain the property without much expense given that taxes are owed on it.
Council agreed to consider the matter at its next meeting once it receives a report from K-2.
In other business, council approved a resolution approving a lot split that will allow the borough to sell a small sliver of property behind the Midtown Auto building to the owners of New Lam’s Garden restaurant.
Lam’s, 8 S. Washington St., plans to expand the restaurant onto the adjoining lot, which it owns, and the small piece of property it will purchase from the borough.
The borough property Lam’s will purchase is 0.02 of an acre. The property was appraised and will be sold to Lam’s for $750. Cumberledge said the borough will still own three feet of property behind the Midtown building, which will provide space for building maintenance.
In an update on the revision of the borough comprehensive plan, Cumberledge reported the steering committee is reviewing the borough zoning ordinance.
He reported the borough is conducting a survey of zoning on the borough’s web page. He urged residents to visit the page and complete the survey.
He also reported administrative assistant Athena Bowman has completed downloading on computer all borough council minutes back to 1922.