Nov 7, 2014 3 min read

The city of Washington has been looking to fight blight as it has moved to demolish numerous dilapidated properties, and now it’s found a new battle with one owner who says his North Main Street building is being unfairly targeted.

City Council voted Thursday night to condemn and demolish five more properties, including Chuck Kurowski’s building at 83 N. Main St. The structure caught fire in August 2005, but sections have since been repaired.

Code Enforcement Officer Ron McIntyre testified the building is in disrepair and a danger to the community, but he admitted he has never been inside and could only cite a broken third-floor rear window as one of the exterior’s problems. Kurowski, a lawyer who has represented several clients suing the city, accused McIntyre of fabricating complaints about the building and said McIntyre is now “harassing” him as retribution for the other cases.

“This was a pure fabrication because I’ve represented people against the city, and now they’re retaliating,” Kurowski said.

He and his lawyer, Jim Jeffries, criticized the city during a testy public hearing before the vote and late last month filed a federal lawsuit alleging “selective enforcement” and asked the courts to intervene. Kurowski said the city has cited his building several times since the fire, only to withdraw the complaints later.

But Washington fire Capt. Gerry Coleman performed a walk-through of the building with Kurowski on Wednesday and said there were remnants of fire damage on the second floor, which was severely damaged by the blaze nine years ago. That area is used for storing Kurowski’s old law records, and the first floor is a personal office for the lawyer.

Coleman did not know who performed renovation work on the second floor and said the city never received engineering designs to ensure the work followed proper building codes.

“It’s just a framed-out building. Basically, it’s a shell of building,” Coleman testified. “It’s not fit for human occupation or habitation, at this point.”

The first floor, however, does have working utilities and connected phone lines.

Councilman Joe Manning, who said he was allowed to tour the inside of the building on a previous date, disagreed with the decision to declare it a public nuisance and suggested the city wait to make a decision.

“All of these (other) properties were overwhelmingly evident that they were dilapidated, overgrown and a public nuisance,” Manning said. “I think we failed to meet our burden on this, and with the pending (federal) litigation, I think we should hold off on this until it’s settled.”

Manning and Councilman Terry Faust voted against the demolition declaration, while Mayor Brenda Davis, Councilman Ken Westcott and Councilwoman Tracie Graham voted in favor. Kurowski said Davis and Westcott should have abstained in the voting since they have been named in past litigation he’s filed against the city.

Four other properties also will be demolished following unanimous votes with no challenges from the public Thursday night. They include 123 Woodland Ave., 138 N. Main St., 93-95 N. Main St. and 26 W. Chestnut St. Demolition work on the building at 138 N. Main St., where the window dormers had fallen to the street in June 2013, causing the road to be temporarily closed, began earlier this week, before the vote.

City Council began moving forward in September with its aggressive plan to demolish several dilapidated buildings, most of which are near the city’s Main Street, as they try to remove blight and spur development. Officials already have voted to raze buildings on six properties since Sept. 11.