Owners of crumbling Sedalia buildings given 60 days to make repairs or face demolition
Nia Hinson
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Sedalia Board of Appeals says the owners of two buildings in the city have 60 days to fix their buildings, or they will be torn down.
The board unanimously approved the motion on Wednesday, after citing concerns that the upcoming winter months could create more problems down the road. The city has been actively collecting demolition bids for the buildings owned by Dana Melton and Travis Dixon at 207 and 209 W. Main St.
Bids must be submitted to the city clerk’s office by 4 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 29. The City Council is expected to approve a bid at its Nov. 3 meeting.
The city is looking to preserve other buildings that could be damaged in if those two were to collapse.
Chief Building Official Bryan Kopp had determined the building at 207 West Main St. needed to be demolished to “protect the public,” court documents say. However, the owners had argued that the buildings can be saved, and accused the city of damaging the building during sidewalk repairs that occurred three years ago.
A judge ruled in July that the city had the authority to demolish a building within city limits.
The board on Wednesday heard arguments from Kopp, an engineer who inspected the building and a representative for the property owners on Wednesday. Kopp argued the owners had been notified in November 2024 that the roof of the building needed repairs, but failed to do anything about it.
“They’ve had ample time and if they’ve had any resource at all, if they wanted to repair the roof, they could have,” Kopp said. “There was notification and documentation of the wall dating back at least that far.”
The engineer Justin Andrus-Bearden also stated that come winter, he believes the conditions of the building will worsen and could become more dangerous for the public. He also claimed the roof would need to be replaced entirely and said the floor of the building is buckling to the point where people are unable to walk on it.
Bearden said he believed weather, as well as the lack of maintenance on the building played the biggest factors into the building’s current state. He also said that demolishing the building would be cheaper than repairing it.
“I personally was not able to inspect every inch because I did not feel it was safe for myself,” Andrus-Bearden said. “The entire wood flooring is buckling to the point that you can’t even walk on it without fear of tripping, it’s very squishy. Majority of that wood frame would have to be replaced to the point of being able to be usable to the public.”
The owners’ representative Steve Fritz argued that he hired someone to inspect the building, who claimed it could be saved and asked for time to save the buildings. He argued that making any repairs to the buildings would not be feasible within 30 days.
“If you look around, I’m sure most of you know better, or at least as good as I do how many buildings in this town are in bad shape and how many have bad roofs and water just constantly gets in. That’s the downside,” Fritz said. “The good side of these old buildings is they stay together and they hold up under the worst conditions. You rarely see one just come down and collapse.”
After about an hour of discussion, the board ruled to give the owners 60 days to make repairs to the buildings or face demolition. One board member stated he believed time was being stalled, and pointed out that traffic near the buildings has been blocked for months due to their condition.