The walls of a dilapitated house located at 1222 St. Helens Street remain upright as posts help hold the structure together Wednesday afternoon in Centralia.
Spray paint on the outside of the structure demands the city of Centralia to ‘clean this up’ at a residence located at 1222 St. Helens Street Wednesday afternoon in Centralia.
Construction equipment is parked in front of a dilapitated house located at 1222 St. Helens Street Wednesday afternoon in Centralia.
Decaying floor boards open up massive holes in a dilapitated house located at 1222 St. Helens Street Wednesday afternoon in Centralia.
The walls and roof of a dilapitated house located at 1222 St. Helens Street crumble to the ground Wednesday afternoon in Centralia.
For more than two decades the house located at 1222 St. Helens Street has been a code enforcement nightmare for neighbors and the city of Centralia. But, the nightmare is coming to an end as the house is slated to be demolished next week.
“It’s been a blight on that neighborhood and my thanks go to those neighbors because they have been more than patient and great to work with. The house is finally coming down and it’s been a long time coming,” said Centralia City Attorney Shannon Murphy-Olson.
The roof of the house is caving in and partially covered with a blue tarp, trees and brush on the property are overgrown, and “Centralia Clean This Up” has been spray-painted on the sides of the structurally unsound house.
At a Centralia City Council meeting in early May, the council awarded a bid to T-Jags Trucking, not to exceed $26,509, to demolish the house.
The city is currently waiting to receive a permit from the Southwest Clean Air Agency before they can demolish the house because of the asbestos and lead that was found in the house. Murphy-Olson, who has been with the city for 26 years and has dealt with the ‘nuisance property’ since her first few years at the city, said that she is hoping to receive the permit early next week.
“We could not find the owner of the home (Joan Sittko). We’ve dealt with her for over 20 years — she’s been in and out of court. When we started the action to demolish, we could not locate her. We’re almost at the point to demolish and I got a call from a guardian ad litem that has been appointed for Ms. Sittko,” said Murphy-Olson.
The city only has an order to demolish the house and does not take ownership of the property. A lien will be put on the property. Murphy-Olson said that once the house is demolished, the state will sell the property.
“When (Ms. Sittko) lived in the house — we tried to work with her and she was a very difficult person to deal with. When push came to shove, the difficulty was, do we allow her to live there because she won’t leave, or do we force her to live on the street? It was the decision of the city manager and city council to let her be,” she explained.
Murphy-Olson said that the city has tried to enforce code and sent her to municipal court, but Sittko didn’t comply and eventually she moved out of the house and the city took legal action to demolish the house.
“I think, for me, it’s been a good learning lesson regarding code enforcement because code enforcement isn’t about someone who has a messy yard or a home that isn’t well cared for. There’s usually a bigger story and often times it ends up being a multi-organizational effort,” she said.
Murphy-Olson said that this situation has shed light on the effects a code enforcement issue has on the entire neighborhood.
“I’m very glad that the house is coming down because the neighbors were very upset and who could blame them,” said Centralia Mayor Susan Luond.
The house at 1222 St. Helens Street was the last home needing to be dealt with on former Centralia Police Chief Bob Berg’s ‘dirty dozen’ list of nuisance properties within city limits created in 2006.
