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Washington Evening Journal
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Washington, IA 52353
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Dilapidated Fairfield home about to be demolished
FAIRFIELD – A dilapidated home on Fairfield’s South Sixth Street is days away from being demolished.
Fairfield City Administrator Doug Reinert said the city has contracted with Bob Brown Excavating to demolish the home at 504 S. Sixth St., which the city acquired from the former owner after they informed the city they could no longer take care of it.
Reinert said Bob Brown Excavating planned to demolish the home last week but was delayed because of rain. During the Monday, April 8 Fairfield City Council meeting, Reinert said he wanted to have the council’s Property Committee look into the best way to redevelop the lot once the home is demolished.
“Are we going to sell that …. are we going to give it?” Reinert asked the council. “Are we going to put something on it and then sell it? As these properties come in, I would like to see them go out. Once we have them, we have to mow them and be held to the same expectations that we hold our own citizens.”
Reinert told The Union before the meeting, “We’d like to get some movement on that property, because the city is not in the real estate business. We’re trying to clean up properties and get our housing inventory where it needs to be. This is a prime location, and hopefully we can recover the cost of demolition.”
The cost of demolition was estimated to be between $12,000 and $15,000.
The home’s former owner gave the house and land to the city because they couldn’t maintain it. The city accepted the gift, and found appropriate housing for the homeowner. Reinert said that, though the building might look stable on the outside, the floor is in danger of collapsing, so the city put up signs indicating the home was a dangerous building and that nobody should enter it.
In October 2023, the council voted 7-0 to demolish the home. The city briefly looked into the idea of burning down the home as part of a firefighter training exercise, but opted not to do that.
Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com
