Durkeeville 100 year old house in danger of demolition

[sheclown]

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The house is in historical Durkeville, but the city says the house is not an historical home.

"Our house is over one hundred years old," said Lynette Myers,"and we would like to keep it in the family."

Myers is now leading a fight to save their home from a wrecking ball.

"This is our family home this is all the legacy we have left of our family," she said.

The city's  Municipal Code Compliance Division cited the property as an unsafe structure in 1999, that was two years after it was damaged by fire.

more

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=309370

[Tacachale]

Here's the kicker

...

City officials said the condition of the building has been the bane of complaints from at least two residents, and the fact that the family has another building on West 6th street in a similar situation.

City officials said the Myers house is now listing and poses a potential hazard to the house next door, the street and the people who walk the sidewalks. The city then made the decision to demolish the building.

...

Looks like a job for mothballing - or it could have been 16 years ago.

[Coolyfett]

Is the city going to pay the people for their house?

[carpnter]

I have to side with the city on this one.  It was damaged by a fire in 1997, cited in 1999, fines didn't start until 2005, 6 years after it was cited.  It has now been nearly 14 years since it was originally cited and 16 years since the fire.  How much more time do they need to fix it?

[acme54321]

Why doesn't the city take the houses instead of demolishing them?  If they have been fining these people for 14 years I am sure the fines far exceed the value of the property.  SIEZE it.  Resell it with the stipulations the issues must be addressed.  Do they not do that anywhere else?  Seems much more cost effective than razing the building for a vacant lot worth $5k.

[sheclown]

Why doesn't the city take the houses instead of demolishing them?  If they have been fining these people for 14 years I am sure the fines far exceed the value of the property.  SIEZE it.  Resell it with the stipulations the issues must be addressed.  Do they not do that anywhere else?  Seems much more cost effective than razing the building for a vacant lot worth $5k.

Preach It!!

(only  add that the city mothballs it in there somewhere)

Code enforcement can repair or demolish.  Have them repair (ie mothball) and then change ownership of the house.  Probably cost what demo costs (to mothball). 

[sheclown]

Here's the kicker

...

City officials said the condition of the building has been the bane of complaints from at least two residents, and the fact that the family has another building on West 6th street in a similar situation.

City officials said the Myers house is now listing and poses a potential hazard to the house next door, the street and the people who walk the sidewalks. The city then made the decision to demolish the building.

...

Looks like a job for mothballing - or it could have been 16 years ago.

only "historic" properties qualify for mothballing (although Bill Killingsworth saw this as a city-wide plan for all vacant properties).

The owners could get landmark status.

[thelakelander]

Why doesn't the city take the houses instead of demolishing them?  If they have been fining these people for 14 years I am sure the fines far exceed the value of the property.  SIEZE it.  Resell it with the stipulations the issues must be addressed.  Do they not do that anywhere else?  Seems much more cost effective than razing the building for a vacant lot worth $5k.

In Charleston, you wouldn't be able to tear this structure down if you wanted too.  That goes for the areas north of US 17 just as much as the popular preserved downtown south of the highway.  It would be interesting to see a cost/economic comparison on the utilization of tax dollars for repair vs. demolition.

[strider]

I have heard MCCD employees state time and time again that a house is listing, or leaning or otherwise  about to fall down onto the unsuspecting public.  Time and time again, the house is still vertical and not in danger of falling over within the next few decades several years later after those under oath declarations.  I suspect this house to be the same.

Heck, I heard and watched a professional engineer from Atlantic Engineering fall in line with what a supposed expert employee from MCCD wanted done - that is just take the back of a house off.  Of course, one look up and one could see that the roof structure was continuous so take the back and you have to take the entire house.  Which is what they really wanted to do.  Or how about the time it took two trips to inspect a house by the same Atlantic Engineering employee within two or three days - the first one said the house was structurally OK, the second was that it was about to fall down.  Is there any doubt that Ms Scott gets what she wants? And that what she wants is to give work to her Demolition contractor buddies? Or maybe it just looks good on her resume that she had x number of houses torn down during her tenure. Who knows.

I do know that you can not trust what a city department chief or her employees say about the condition of a structure.

As an aside, the ordinace code already gives the power to MCCD to repair a structure rather than demolish it.  I many cases, think mothballing as a far less expensive alternative to demolition. It is Ms Scott's policy to ignore that part of the code though.

[iloveionia]

I guess now it is time for code to pick on someone else.  Too bad.  I read a lot and have not read about a city where code enforcement gets all hot and bothered on a regular basis about old neglected homes.  Code needs to mothball, plain and simple.  Less cost involved than demolition.  I have mothballed several homes and big whoop.  IF I CAN DO IT, SO CAN THEY!  Sustainability and preservation are important, just not in Jacksonville. 

[sheclown]

Durkeville homes need protection --

[thelakelander]

Yes, they do.  Durkeeville is just about the last historically black area of town where there are an abundance of early 20th century homes similar to what exists in Springfield and Riverside.  It was developed in an era when when black doctors, businessmen, etc. didn't have the right to select neighborhoods all of the city to live in.  We've already erased neighborhoods like Sugar Hill and LaVilla from existence.   With assets like the old negro league ballpark, Stanton, the S-Line and Edward Waters, show a little love and care and its a walkable neighborhood that can easily turn around just as quick as King Street has in the last couple of years. 

With that in mind, here's an interesting map I've come across over the last month (sorry, it's a blurry cell phone pic):





It's an early 20th century marketing map for St. Johns Park. That neighborhood's developer marketed it as a place for residents who wanted to be far and away from the designated black areas of town.  So, it highlights the black areas as red.  The majority of these red areas were dominated with shotgun housing and small wood frame structures. A few, such as Durkeeville and Sugar Hill were home to a number of stately residences. Unfortunately, we've wiped out most of these areas for the construction of I-95 and the expansion of the hospitals that now make up Shands Jacksonville. When comparing this map to what exists in today's environment, it's easy to see why Durkeeville is worth preserving, IMO.

[iloveionia]

Great owner background info on the family and neighborhood. Thank you both.
Separate but related. I was told that the childhood home of Zora Neale Hurston was demolished today in Jax.
Moving forward on this house.
I understand there is a request for this house to have landmark status.
There's a cog in the wheel.
And potentially a step towards preserving the home which is most important.

[thelakelander]

^Do you know the address of the Zora Neale Thurston residence?  If true, something like that could easily be the powder keg to preserving what's left.  Honestly, since we've never really valued black history in this town, there's no telling what the significance is of structures being demolished in neighborhoods who's residents lack a strong voice or influence at city hall.

[iloveionia]

Sheclown.
1477 Evergreen
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