Case raises questions about renovations in flooded areas

Randy and Laurie Hanson's house and garage on J Street SW are raising a good question: Fourteen months after the 2008 flood, is it time to start asking property owners staying in their homes to finish up exterior renovations of their properties in the flood-hit areas of the city?

This week, the Hansons were in court tussling with city officials who have cited the Hansons with code-enforcement violations for not siding their garage and house and not having alley-facing address numbers on the outside of the garage.

The judge will issue a ruling in the weeks ahead.

At the house early Thursday afternoon, Randy Hanson blamed the squabble with City Hall on the city's NEAT initiative.

Launched last spring, NEAT - Neighborhood Enhancement Action Team - is designed to send teams of city code-enforcement inspectors, nuisance-abatement officers and police officers into select spots in the city looking for chipping and peeling paint, roofs, windows, steps and chimneys in need of repair or replacement, unlicensed vehicles and debris in the yard.

Hanson, 50, acknowledged on Thursday that his un-sided, oversized garage - which he uses to support his company, RH Construction - was among the items that caught the NEAT team's attention at his place in the spring of 2008.

Then the flood hit, sending 5 feet of water into his house and water into the garage behind it.

Now, 14 months later, Hanson said the NEAT team has returned with only one central interest in mind: Why hadn't he put siding on his garage like he said he would before the flood?

Hanson acknowledged that he built the garage some years ago and never finished the outside. The City Assessor Office's online records make mention of an “un-sided garage” reaching back several years.

Now, though, Hanson said he has his hands full trying to fix the flood-damaged house, the outside of which is without siding and continues to be a work in progress. Out back is a big travel trailer, where he said he and his wife live.

City response

City Manager Jim Prosser on Thursday said code issues at the Hanson property stretch back some years, and the question now is whether the flood “impaired” the Hansons' ability to put a plan in place to comply with city requirements.

He said neighbors have fixed up their properties in flood-impacted neighborhoods across the city and now they are asking the city to take some action at places where that is not happening.

“We're not trying to use a club,” Prosser said. “Sometimes it takes people being cited before they pay attention.”

On Thursday, mayoral candidate Ron Corbett jumped into the fray, calling on his mayoral opponent, City Council member Brian Fagan, and other council members to use some “common sense” in working with property owners in flood-impacted areas. He called the city's citation against the Hansons “silly.”

Fagan, who didn't know the exact details of the Hansons' case, on Thursday pointed out that he had ridden his bicycle to six neighborhood gatherings on Tuesday evening at the National Night Out event. At four of those spots, neighbors told him their biggest request of city government was “more proactive code enforcement.”

“Code enforcement, that's one of the biggest things I hear,” Fagan said. “People want things done. They want things improved.”