“The building is not safe and represents a public hazard,” Muncy said. “The fact that most of the government authorities or community organizations have ignored this point is a remarkable oversight on their part. Right now, we are exploring our legal options and we will be addressing the public safety issue in the very near future.”
On Friday, lawyers for 116 West Main Street sought an order by Miami County Judge Stacy Wall to dissolve earlier court orders, including a preliminary injunction, and to allow demolition to proceed. The building, just a block from the city’s public square, has portions dating to the early 1800s.
The injunction was sought by the city after 116 West Main Street began demolition of a portion of the building before sunrise on March 29. They cited a Miami County Building Department adjudication order of March 27 giving 14 days for abatement of the building as a hazard.
A hearing on a permanent injunction had been scheduled for April 4 but was continued because of other legal filings. Those filings included a city of Troy request seeking at least minimum repairs to the brick building, plus monetary damages because the building controversy has delayed the city’s multimillion-dollar West Main Street reconstruction project.
Several motions have been filed since that hearing.
Troy officials file affidavits on street project, building future
Patrick Titterington, city service and safety director, and Austin Eidemiller, city planning and zoning manger, filed affidavits supporting the city’s injunction request.
Titterington says in his affidavit that he was at the building March 29 when demolition initially began then was halted. He stated a requested restraining order is needed because he was told by 116 West Main Street’s lawyer that the demolition would continue without a written court order.
Eidemiller’s affidavit discusses the building’s role in the delay of the West Main Street reconstruction. The sidewalk and street in front of the Tavern building have been blocked to parking and pedestrians since a January 2020 tornado.
The continued blocking of that area and delay in the Main Street project “will likely cause the city … additional expenses to reconstruct and re-design West Main Street in an amount that is not currently known,” Eidemiller stated.
He further said that irreparable loss and damage would be experienced by building demolition, trespassing on city property and the building remaining in a state of disrepair.
“Once the building is demolished, it will be gone and the historic character of the city will be forever altered,” Eidemiller’s affidavit said.
Neighboring building owners ask for orders, too
Wall allowed Evil Empire LLC and Cheryl Cheadle to intervene as plaintiffs in the city injunction request. They own buildings to the west and east of the Tavern.
In the intervenors’ filing, attorney Jeremy Tomb wrote that the attempt to demolish was illegal because a proper permit had not been obtained, adding that the plan posed a threat to adjacent properties which share walls with a portion of the Tavern building.
The intervenors asked the judge to order 116 West Main to repair and secure any compromised walls or roofs to protect adjoining property owners and the safety of the public and to issue orders against any further violations of codes or laws. The intervenors also are asking for punitive damages and costs including lawyer fees.
A structural engineer’s report on the condition of the structures made at the request of the intervenors stated that the building was not in danger of imminent collapse either before or after the initiation of demolition in late March. That report was done by Andrew Brock, a consulting structural engineer from Perrysburg.
116 West Main Street’s structural engineer’s report on the building in March was the basis for the adjudication order from the county building official. A portion of that report by Mark Stemmer of Tri-Tech Engineering was cited in the building department media release on its adjudication order.
“Conclusions drawn from the field inspection include Mr. Stemmer’s professional opinion that if an event occurs where prescribed loads are approached, the building will suffer a partial or full collapse and people and property near the building would be in imminent danger.”
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