Historic preservation group miffed at Avenue I demo

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BY CHUCK VANDENBERG

PCC EDITOR

FORT MADISON - The demolition of a house at 1301 Avenue I has the ire of the city's Historic Preservation Commission.

The property was demolished sometime during the three-day holiday weekend and Andy Andrews, president of the North Lee County Historical Society, told the Fort Madison City Council the move was a slap in the face of the commission. Andrews also serves as the chairman of the HPC.

"It was a real slap into the face of the HPC yesterday when they came in on a holiday and tore down an 1836 brick house at 1301 Avenue I. There was no knowledge to the preservation commission," Andrews told the council Tuesday night.

Andrews spent some time outlining the history of the building and said there was some hardware the commission would have like to have saved.

"Unknown to us, this was being torn down and we kept this all secret from the Historic Preservation Commission."

He presented a list of homes built before 1960 and said those homes should have a demolition permit.

"Of course, the city's going to tell me they don't have to get demolition permits, but that's really not designated. The commission is here to preserve our historic structures," Andrews said.

Andrews said the commission tried to purchase the property, but there were too many hoops to jump through. He said the commission has agreed to tear down some buildings including 721 Avenue G, so he didn't know why 1301 was chosen so quickly.

"The demolition of 1301 I was a blatant disregard to the Historic Presevation Commision. Wanted to bring that to your attention tonight and hopefully we can get this resolved so the Historic Preservation Commission feels like they serve a purpose here in town."

The city has owned the property since it received it on a quit claim deed in February of 2017 from the county on sheriff's sale.

Andrews son, Rusty, who sits on the council, made a pitch to the council for the property in the summer of 2017, but according to City Building Director Doug Krogmeier, nothing ever came of the sale and the property stayed with the city.

After the meeting, Rusty Andrews confirmed that he never did take possession of the property. He said the commission used to get demolition permit information on properties that were being torn down in the city, but a riff existed between the commission and the city and wording was changed so it was not required to give the commission an opportunity to review the permits.

He said the demolition points to city staff not having value in the commission.

But Krogmeier said the property was a nuisance and had to come down.

"They've known this property was a nuisance and it needed to be abated," Krogmeier said after the meeting.

Krogmeier said Rusty Andrews made an offer in June of 2017 to buy the property from the city but never followed through.

"It's a nuisance. If he would have given us something in writing on what his plans were, but he never did that and it had to come down."

Fire Chief Joey Herren said there has already been one fire in the building and the structure was hazardous.

Mayor Brad Randolph said outside of Rusty Andrews' interest in the property, there was never an offer made to purchase the home.

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