HOT SPRINGS -- The Hot Springs Board of Directors has approved a resolution condemning the "red brick building" and Lanai Towers of the Majestic Hotel complex.
Garrison Hassenflu, the registered incorporator of Park Residences Development LLC, the owner of the Majestic property, will have 30 days to obtain a permit to repair, rehabilitate, secure, raze and remove, or otherwise abate the remaining buildings and continue the work to a satisfactory completion within a time frame that the city manager or his designee determines, according to the resolution.
In December, Hassenflu pleaded no contest to 10 of 34 Hot Springs code violations pertaining to vacant structures.
City directors have heard three previous resolutions to condemn the buildings, but all were tabled because the property owner was on schedule with preliminary steps approved by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality to clean up the debris pile left when the "yellow brick building" burned on Feb. 27, 2014.
The debris pile was to have been removed by March 5, but the property owner said he needed more time.
The condemnation resolution, approved last week, states that the structures "are deteriorated, vacant, structurally damaged, an attractive nuisance, and present an ongoing hazard to the public health and welfare."
Beginning 30 days after the condemnation resolution's approval, a fine of $250 will be imposed against the owner of the buildings, and "each day thereafter that the said nuisance is not abated constitutes a separate and distinct offense punishable by a fine of $250 for each separate and distinct offense, provided that the post-condemnation notice requirements of HSC 17-1-5 are met."
Several residents of the Park Avenue community addressed the board in favor of condemnation, but most spoke of removing the rubble from the building that burned, which was not a part of the pending resolution.
Angela Gammill told the directors she was in favor of the condemnation.
"This is a 24-hour pedestrian community," and the rubble piled on the sidewalk creates a safety hazard, she said, adding that the rubble is "disheartening" to look at every day, and redevelopment in the area would occur much faster if the area were cleaned up.
Brenda Brandenburg was also in favor of the condemnation, stating that her first thought was for the safety of firefighters who may have to go into the buildings to fight another fire.
"For us to allow the center of the downtown area to look the way it does is disgraceful. We need to keep pressure on the property. The building must be condemned, and the property owner held responsible," she said.
City Director Randy Fale asked what obligations the city would have, to which City Attorney Brian Albright said: "None, at this point. At the end of 30 days, the city would have other options."
State Desk on 03/23/2015