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1st house to come down for program: Ravenna starting neighborhood work

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Diane Smith
November 10, 2009

 

 

By Diane Smith

Record-Courier staff writer

From the curb, the house at 468 S. Walnut St. in Ravenna looks like it’s in pretty good shape. 

But stroll down the driveway, and you’ll see the foundation is so deteriorated that the back of the house is sinking. Take a look inside the basement, and you’ll notice that it’s completely flooded.

City officials hope this house and two others in the city will soon be a pile of rubble.

The Walnut Street residence is expected to be the first house in Ravenna demolished under the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. Other homes in the demolition program are at 511 E. Highland Ave. and 329 Ravenna Ave.

The homes will be demolished using the city’s share of $1.25 million allocated to Portage County as part of the Ohio Department of Development’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program. 

Both Kent and Ravenna will receive $350,000. The rest will be allocated to Portage County, which has agreed to use the money on homes near the two cities so the money will have the most impact.

Dave Vaughan of Neighborhood Development Services, which is administering the program, said a Phase II environmental study and a historic review must be done on the properties before demolition can take place. He hopes those studies will be complete by the end of November.

Although the funding requires new homes to be built on the vacant property within 10 years, the city is exempt from those requirements if the property is not buildable under current zoning. Since the Walnut Street property is believed to be too narrow for a new house to be constructed there, Vaughan said, the land probably will be divided and sold to the neighbors once it is vacant.

The two-story house, which has a detached garage on the property, has a long history with the city, said Dan Dobrilovic, interim chief building official. When it was occupied, there were frequent disputes between the man who lived there and his neighbor.

After the man died, there was a question of survivorship of the property, and it has been vacant for the past two years. The back corner of the foundation is caved in, leaving a hole large enough for the home to be invaded by small children and large animals. 

During a recent visit, city staff members did a makeshift job of boarding up the opening to prevent a child from falling in.

“This is a hazard,” Mayor Kevin Poland said as he surveyed the house. “This puts all the surrounding people at risk.”

Vaughan said NDS is in the process of buying two other homes in Ravenna that will be rehabilitated, one on Highland Avenue and the other on North Chestnut Street. He said both homes are large and beautiful, and their size and architecture makes them too unique to tear down. 

“It would be like a toothless smile,” he said.

 




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 6 Total Comments
6.
    Posted by danielravenna1 November 11, 2009
one more thing last time i checked this man was alive as of yesterday when i talked to him rc might want to verify there facts before printing

5.
    Posted by danielravenna1 November 11, 2009
also if the neighbor would have stayed on his own property there would never been any problems with them but no one would do anything against the neighbor it was another one of those good old boy problems in town she had already sued the county once and they was afraid of her and was good friends with the city police

4.
    Posted by danielravenna1 November 11, 2009
yes this home is a major eye sore however if children are playing in it where are there parents this house was last occupied by members of my family and extreme caution should be used in that basement for half the floor is missing under all that water there is a 3 ft drop on north side of basement the crazy fool lowered the floor instead of raising the house it was pumped out during all those floods several yrs ago by fire dept.should have been condemded then but city was to lazy to do there job

3.
    Posted by WintersWife November 10, 2009
Thank goodness that house on Walnut St. is the first to go. My brother and sister-n-law live right next door. My children are over there playing often along with my neice and nephew. It is a accident waiting to happen at that house. Way to go, tear that sucker down!

2.
    Posted by peachesked November 10, 2009
Seriously? "INVADED" by small children and large animals?

1.
    Posted by ravennaresident November 10, 2009
And those two houses being bought by NDS will be turned into Section 8 housing I bet - Therefore, they WERE two large beautiful homes - after NDS gets them - nothing!

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