Walnut Ridge officials are considering condemning a 100-year-old downtown building owned by a former mayor, fearing it could soon collapse and injure residents.
The Baker Electric Building at 108 NE Front St. was deemed "not structurally sound" after an inspection in May by a Hardy engineering firm. Thomas Parsons, owner of Parsons Engineering Inc., said in a letter to Walnut Ridge Fire Chief Frank Owens that bricks have fallen out of the wall near the top of the building and the rear wall has collapsed.
He said the front of the building is sloping at least three inches toward the street.
Mayor Charles Snapp said City Council members will discuss the possibility of condemnation during their regular July 17 meeting.
Parsons said two other buildings on Southwest Second Street and on Abbey Road in the Lawrence County town also are unstable.
"There is a realistic danger to people in front of the building on Front Street," Snapp said. "Cars are parked next to it all the time and people use the sidewalk. We're not saying 'if' it falls. We are saying 'when' it falls."
Snapp said he will recommend barricading the sidewalk in front of the building as a precaution.
Walnut Ridge isn't the only town in the state that has been forced to address the potential danger of collapsing buildings in its downtown area.
Pine Bluff officials closed a section of Main Street between Sixth and Eighth avenues after a building at 620 Main St. collapsed into the street earlier this year. At least three other buildings in the Jefferson County town have fallen in the past three years.
In a June 21 letter to Snapp and aldermen, Owens, who is also the city's code enforcement officer, wrote that he recommended the council "move forward with a final request to the property owner to bring each building up to compliance."
He said council members should first consider condemning the Front Street building and then the Southwest Second Street property.
The buildings' owner, J.R. Rogers, said he's owned the properties for more than 20 years. He said he tried to repair the buildings before, but the city has refused to issue a building permit.
"I've spent $13,000 in attorney fees to try to get the permits," Rogers said.
Rogers served as the town's mayor and councilman and was a Democratic state representative from 2001 to 2005.
"When you can't even work on a building you own, it's sorry," he said.
He added that he felt Snapp and other city officials are hindering his repairs to tarnish his political reputation, fearing he may run for mayor against Snapp, who became mayor in 2014.
"My life has become living hell since he became mayor," Rogers said of Snapp. "I believe they are acting in retaliation to when I was mayor."
Rogers, 66, said he does not plan to run for Walnut Ridge's mayor position again.
Snapp said Rogers' claims were unfounded. He said the city issued him a building permit in May 2011.
"I've read the engineer's report," Snapp said. "I don't see I had a choice. We've got a warning by an engineer to the city to do something."
City Attorney Nancy Hall urged council members to take action against Rogers. In a letter to aldermen and Snapp, she said other buildings also were posing a threat to the city.
"I believe it is time for the Council to make a decision about the direction the city should take in removing these dangers to our citizens," Hall wrote. "This is not a light decision as financially each removal comes with ancillary costs and potential suits. If we are to move forward with condemnation, the council must be committed to the possibility that funds will need to be expended to raze and remove each of these structures."
She asked aldermen to drive by the property to see the damage.
Hall did not return messages left at her office Thursday and Friday.
"This is extreme," Snapp said. "The landowners adjoining these buildings have the right to take action and protect their own properties.
"The building [on Northeast Front] is out of plumb," the mayor said. "It could fall at any time."
State Desk on 07/10/2017