By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
The house that was the center of a bomb squad investigation in 2014 is now on the chopping block for demolition.
The City of Bucyrus declared Mitch Cooper’s property at 415 W. Rensselaer St. a public nuisance on May 12 and posted notices for condemnation and demolition on the home and garage. Zoning Administrator John Rostash cited numerous reasons for the notices, including the home being dilapidated and a fire hazard, being unable to provide basic elements of shelter, and the damage exceeding 50 percent of the home’s replacement value.
Cooper, however, appealed the notice at a Board of Building Standards and Appeals meeting Tuesday afternoon.
Cooper, who owned several properties in the city in the past, two of which burned down, told the board that he has since pulled the front porch off, removed trash from the back porch, painted the back porch, and secured the garage.
“There’s more to do there,” Cooper acknowledged.
Cooper’s attorney, Kylie Martin, requested a 30-day extension for additional repairs to be made and for removal of debris, but the board did not seem favorable to the request.
Cooper admitted all of his belongings were in the residence, but stated he had not stayed at the West Rensselaer Street home very often over the past few years.
“If the inside is anything like the outside, I don’t see any way this house can ever be put back into a livable condition,” board member Floyd Farmer said. He later added that he owned the apartments near the Rensselaer Street home at one time and believed the home had been in a steady rate of decline for years.
Board members Rodney Streib and Mark Makeever seemed to agree with Farmer’s assessment, questioning whether Cooper understood the costs associated with putting the house back to a livable state.
“The house is absolutely a fire hazard to the neighborhood,” Rostash said, citing Styrofoam and rubbish piling up in the rooms, animals living in the house, and holes. “It’s a tremendous amount of work.”
As Cooper continued to defend the home and his attempts to fix it up, Law Director Rob Ratliff stepped in and provided an inches-thick stack of photo print-outs detailing the inside of the home in 2014 when the Columbus Bomb Squad was called on scene to investigate a suspect device. Ratliff pointed out possible bomb-making and gunpowder-making materials, such as Styrofoam, wiring, and jugs of urine. The bomb squad determined at the time that they did not find anything that was not manufactured.
Rostash said the state of the Rensselaer Street home was comparable to 241 W. Mansfield St., which was demolished in March. He pointed to the state of the front porches of both houses, the deferred maintenance, the vacancies, and the dilapidation being well beyond 50 percent of the properties’ values.
“The entire neighborhood is at risk,” Ratliff stated, “with the Styrofoam and God knows what other kinds of potentially hazardous chemicals are in there. I don’t think it’s something we can take that risk of. There’s some nice woodwork in there, yeah. If you want to salvage this on your way out the door, that’s fine, but the condition of the building is such the hazard to the neighborhood and to the safety forces personnel is just too great.”
Cooper said he currently was not financially able to take out a loan for renovations, but he believed he could be by September, though the board members wondered if a bank would even finance a project due to the condition of the home.
“I’m sorry, but I think we’re prolonging the inevitable to do that,” Farmer said about an extension.
“This is a property we have to visit every year, every year for grass and weeds and violations. He was told to clean this property up two years ago and has made very little progress until he was served notice to tear the thing down,” Rostash said. “There’s no assurance that anything is going to be done on his side of it. The board has a chance now to really correct something in that neighborhood.”
The home has received numerous complaints from the neighborhood over the years, including in 2014 when Ratliff issued an inspection warrant through the International Property Maintenance Code, which led to the Bucyrus Police Department calling in the Columbus Bomb Squad.
“If in 30 days the trash is moved, there are still so many insurmountable deficiencies in this property – there’s no way,” Farmer said.
“I don’t think they’re insurmountable,” Cooper argued.
The board was unanimous in denying the appeal and gave the city the go-ahead on the demolition. Ratliff said he would not file any civil or criminal penalties for at least 30 days in order to allow Cooper time to clear out the house and begin the demolition.
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