City issues raze order on Maple Street apartment

GLENWOOD CITY — The City Council voted four to two to order a three-unit apartment at 107 Maple Street razed.

The order comes after some discussion by the council and input from Police Chief Bob Darwin and a letter from the city’s building inspector. The inspector, Fred Weber stated in the letter, “It is my judgment, so old, dilapidated or out of repair to be dangerous, unsafe, and unsanitary or otherwise unfit for human occupancy or use, it would be unreasonable to repair. Therefore this property needs to be razed.”

Darwin told the council, at their regular meeting of July 14th, that he visited the property, and he indicated that there was no running water, and the floor in one unit was rotted away. Darwin said he spoke to the property owner and suggested that he attend the city council meeting.

The owner did not attend the meeting, but had a handwritten letter presented, which was read by Mayor John Larson. He indicated that he had stopped making payments on the property and that he was going to turn the property over to the financial institution that held the mortgage. He asked that the council wait another month before issuing the raze order.

The building dates back to the lumbering days of Glenwood City, and originally sat on a lot on First Street. It was then moved to its current location about one hundred years ago. It was once the local post office.

Two members of the council, Steve Lee and Crystal Booth voted against issuing the order with Lee stating that he would like to wait for a month to see what the mortgage holder might do. The order has a 30-day time limit.