Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Richardson declares apartment complex an urban nuisance

By Andrew Laska of Richardson Echo

RICHARDSON — On this past Thursday, the City of Richardson declared the Ashley Place Apartments, in the 700 block of West Spring Valley Road to be an “Urban Nuisance.” According the City, the complex has had an extensive history of code violations. Those violations apparently have gone uncorrected and now, according to the City, constitute a threat to the safety and welfare of the residents. A hearing has been set for March 26, 2008 and a possible outcome is the forced demolition of the complex.

The Richardson Echo visited the complex and found a number of disturbing sights that were possible code violations. These included rotting wood on overhead walkways, broken windows, water leaking from what appeared to be a boiler room, stairways which appeared to have rusted joints, and trash strewn about the complex. Nobody appeared to be staffing the management office. Nobody responded to knocks on the management door on several visits because, as best we can ascertain, nobody was in the office.

The City of Richardson Ordinances defines an “urban nuisance” as a premises or structure that:

According to Don Magner, Directory of Neighborhood Services, the City began to look heavily at the complex in July of last year. He stated that numerous warning and citations have gone unanswered. According to our best information, the owner of the complex or representatives of the owner failed to appear at numerous court appearances regarding the citations.

This is a rare occurrence in Richardson. The last case in Richardson regarding a multi-family property was 15 to 16 years ago according to Magner.

Documents obtained by the Richardson Echo, if accurate, show that the City alleges the complex to be in violation of no less that fifty different sections or subsections of the Richardson City Code of Ordinances. Unnamed sources told us, that they believe the number of actual of total violations of these ordinances is over one hundred.

We spoke to a number of residents on Saturday, and many were looking to get out or were already on their way out. Many of the residents speak only Spanish.

We met a woman who declined to identify herself but she was driving a truck – one of two in her caravan – loaded with possessions on the way out. She told us that she had lived there and spoke English but many of her neighbors did not. They often depended on her to help communicate with the management. Many cannot read the notices posted by the City she told us.

She told us that sometime last year that there was alleged to be a management change and that things were supposed to get better. She said they did not.

A resident by the first name of Manuel told us that the management disappeared over a month ago.

“I stopped bothering to fill out maintenance requests,” he told us. When I asked about maintenance, the group of people I was talking to started to laugh.

“There is no maintenance,” he declared emphatically.

“There is no hot water now. They shut it off,” Resident Ivan told us, “There is no maintenance. The office is closed.”

“All the neighbors think it’s horrible,” he said, “They all want to move out.”

Manuel and Ivan told me they plan on moving out Monday or Tuesday.

According to tax records the property has had six owners since 1999. I decided to see if I could contact the owner of the property. I located what I believed was the owner's phone number so I called. Here that conversation:

I identify myself as a reporter calling from the Dallas area. I state that I am calling concerning an apartment complex at the specified location, and I am asking if he is the owner of the complex, in anyway connected with ownership or if he is responsible for the complex.

So I call back. This time a different person answers. It sounds like a female voice with what appears to be a Hispanic accent. I explain who I am and who and what I am looking for.

Meanwhile I can hear a male voice in the background.

“I am confused ma’am,” I say, “If nobody there owns the property or is connected with it, then why would you want to take a message?”

Then the male voice I spoke to returns to the phone. Apparently his trip was rather short, and he tells me exactly what I can do with myself.

“(expletive) off,” he says, “and don’t call back.”

The City’s Zoning Board acting as the City’s Building and Standards Commission is the agency of the city that has the right to declare a property unsafe and can thereby order residents to leave. The City has set a hearing date of March 26th with the Building and Standards Commission to determine the fate of the property.

At the hearing the City will present its case that the property constitutes an urban nuisance and the owner can defend him or herself at such a hearing. The City will ask the Commission to order the property to come into compliance within a specified time frame. The Commission has a number of options at its disposal including the most severe, which is to order demolition of the property. The Commission also could also set a time limit for compliance.

According to Magner, the City has exhausted normal routes of code enforcement and he and other staffers consider the urban nuisance option a “last resort.”

He also told us that the prime concern is the health and safety of the residents. He states that, “We have started with a plan, if it comes to it, to help people relocate. We can reach out through our various contacts with other owners, TXU and others and see if we can make it easier.”

“It is unfortunate that this property owner has allowed this to occur,” he said, “Together we could have created a strategy to deal with it.”

It may be too late for that.

Pegasus News content partner - Richardson Echo

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• Richardson hearing sets deadline for apartment complex: Repair or demolish (April 7, 2008)

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