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Resident wants Roanoke to acquire Seminary Street property

A resident of Seminary Street made a request to the Roanoke Town Council at its meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 1, that it approach the Huntington County Commissioners about acquiring a property on the street before its inclusion in a forthcoming sale.

The resident, Dick Smart, encouraged the board to write a letter to the commissioners, expressing interest in 775 Seminary St., which is set to be included in the next commissioners’ sale. After speaking with the commissioners, Smart said he learned that they will, at the behest of a municipality, withdraw a property from their sale and make it available exclusively to that municipality.

In September, 775 Seminary St. appeared in a tax sale and went unsold, making it eligible for the commissioners’ sale.

The property has been a source of frustration for Smart and other Seminary Street residents for years.
The Huntington Countywide Department of Community Development conducted an inspection of the property in June 2016 and documented several violations of town and state building codes. DCD then generated an order of enforcement, which outlined the violations and prescribed corrective measures.

Failure to resolve those violations in the years that followed led council to level thousands of dollars in fines at the property’s occupant, Casandra Emley. Lack of payment on those fines resulted in them being assessed as liens against the property and added to property tax bills; delinquency on those bills led to the property’s inclusion in the aforementioned tax sale.

Smart asked council to acquire the property from the commissioners and clean it up. Alternatively, he offered to purchase the property from the town and clean it up himself.

“That disaster’s got to go,” said Smart. “And this is a step to make that go away.”

Council responded that it would speak with the commissioners and gather more information.

In other business:

– Brandon Taylor, chief of the Roanoke Volunteer Fire Department, reported that a buyer was lined up for the department’s 1996 fire engine. The engine will be sold for $30,000, with a broker receiving eight percent of the sale.

– Taylor and his staff were given permission to seek quotes for a generator for the fire station.

– Dave Meitzler, of the Roanoke Park Board, stated that the board would be seeking quotes for the installation of a video surveillance system at the park. The Roanoke Police Department has a system that the park can use, it just needs to be installed, noted Meitzler.