GRANITE QUARRY — A dilapidated mobile home at 423 Railroad St. will be coming down.
The Granite Quarry Board of Aldermen voted 4-0 Monday to have the 1972 model trailer demolished and removed from the property. The owner is listed as Glenn Alan McKenzie and the old trailer is valued at only $1,560.
The cost for removal will be $1,150, an amount which will be attached as a lien on the property if not paid by McKenzie.
Code Administrator John Ganus reviewed for aldermen the series of hearings and certified mailings that took place in advance of the demolition decision.
At a May 15, 2013, hearing, the mobile home was determined unfit for human habitation, and McKenzie was asked to repair or demolish the trailer within 90 days.
After McKenzie raised several issues, a written order was delayed while Ganus could conduct some research. But a notice was issued June 27, 2013, outlining nine reasons why the owner was in violation of various ordinances and standards.
Letters sent to McKenzie were returned after he had closed his post office box. Ganus said he contacted McKenzie at his residence July 2, and McKenzie told him he was not in a position to do anything with the trailer at that time.
“He further related,” Ganus said, “that he did not see anything wrong with the mobile home, it wasn’t hurting anything, but if we wanted to tear it down, go ahead.”
The mobile home has been vacant for roughly 10 years or more, Ganus reported. Most recently, it had been used only for storage. It was installed on the property in the mid-1980s based on a temporary special use for a family hardship.
When the family hardship no longer existed, the mobile home remained, becoming dilapidated and substandard under the minimum housing standards ordinance.
In other Granite Quarry news:
• Aldermen tabled until their November meeting a resolution related to future mayoral elections in Granite Quarry. Town Attorney Chip Short asked for the delay.
• Aldermen appointed Town Clerk Barbie Blackwell to serve as the town’s finance officer, working with Stacy Heath, who keeps track of the town’s spending through a financial services contract.
As for the town’s financial outlook at present, retiring Town Manager Dan Peters said, “I leave the town with the budget in good shape.”
• Deputy Town Clerk Sarah Cross reported the Family Fun Fest, held Sept. 27 at Civic Park, was a perfect day, with perfect weather, with an “awesome turnout.”
The day included 15 vendors, a bounce house for kids and music from the Barefoot Cruisers. “It was a very good day and good night,” Cross said.
• Peters reported construction at the Bank Street crossing — a project designed to eliminate the hump and grade that sometimes caught trucks on the tracks — will get underway Nov. 1
Over the next nine months to a year, Peters said, the N.C. Department of Transportation’s Rail Division will provide gates and signals at the remaining railroad crossings in town.
• In September, the Civic Park tennis courts project was completed. The courts were in service by Sept. 8. “I think the tennis courts are awesome,” Alderwoman Mary Ponds said.
• City maintenance crews also installed 40 bales of pine straw at the tennis courts, Town Hall and Granite Lake Park in September and painted parking stripes at Civic Park, the tennis courts, Town Hall, Brown Street and Granite Lake Park.
• City crews had to cut down three large river birches on the Nature Trail because they posed a safety hazard. Two trees also were cut down in the 800 block of Peeler and Lyerly streets.
• Aldermen have designated Oct. 23-31 as National Red Ribbon Week, which encourages Americans to wear a red ribbon to show their support for a drug-free environment.
Contact Mark Wineka at 704-797-4263.