Goodrich- Residents are one step closer to seeing the demolition of a party store-turned- eye sore along M-15.
On Jan. 8, the village council OK’d Wade Trim, for the purposes of acting as a hearing officer in the ongoing battle to demolish the Family Party Store, 8186 M-15 in Goodrich.
The store, owned by Chris Valente, has been closed since a fire on Dec.14, 2003. Little repair work has been done to the building since that time.
‘Kids are starting to damage it,? said village council president Ed York. ‘We don’t want kids getting in there and hurting themselves.
Village officials voted to move forward in their pursuit of removing the structure in November.
‘It’s just a sight nuisance. We’re trying to clean up the village. It’s a slow process,? said York.
At the Nov. 13 council meeting, village attorney Thomas McKenny gave council instruction on the necessary steps to address the situation and the council unanimously voted to adopt the Michigan Housing Law. Village building inspector Matt Place was designated as local enforcer of that law.
Place conducted an inspection of the building and will report his findings during a hearing overseen by the newly appointed hearing officer.
Testimony as to the state of the structure, provided by Place, will be followed by his recommendation as to whether the building should be repaired or demolished.
Council will then either overrule or affirm the recommendation of the building inspector, giving Valente 60 days to abide by the ruling or 20 days to appeal the decision in circuit court.
If Valente fails to take action in those 60 days, McKenny said council will be authorized to hire someone to do the work on his behalf and obtain reimbursement by way of a lean put on the property.
‘We gave (Valente) sufficient time to deal with the situation,? said York.
The hearing officer comes at a cost of $150 per hour, with a $900 estimated total cost. York said the cost of the officer will be included in the lean.
‘Any expenses what-so-ever should (be included in the lean),? said York. ‘We’re hoping by June this is done. We’re trying to alter this aggressively, but there is still due process.?