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City OKs eliminating two additional blighted properties

Lead Summary
,
By
Lori Sorenson

Luverne City Council members took action at their June 21 meeting to remove two more blighted properties in town.
They approved a $51,000 amendment to the 2016 budget to cover the purchase of a house on South McKenzie Street and an abandoned house on North Spring Street.
The city bought the McKenzie Street house from Mike Rogers for $35,000 on June 9.
According to city staff, the lot (directly east of Glen's Food Center) had been a constant source of nuisance complaints for junk and stored vehicles.
The occupants have moved out, and the city has mowed the lot.
The city bought the North Spring property (on the corner of Spring and Bishop) for $16,000 from Leon Pick. No one had been living in the residence.
The properties, set for demolition later this year, join a growing list of lots the city has improved for blight removal purposes.
The city acquired three blighted properties — 509, 501, and 409 E. Barck — in 2014 and 2015. The four contiguous lots on the north side of Barck Avenue, 150 feet deep, were sold in May 2015 to Cleveringa Construction to build two triplexes and one twin home. Two are already built and the others are underway.
•A century-old house north of Culligan at the corner of Highway 75 and Lincoln Street is in the process of being condemned and acquired through eminent domain.
•The city purchased the property between Remmedez and the liquor store last summer from Dale and Karen Bosch, Beaver Creek, for $70,000. It was demolished and the city is holding the lot for future development.
•Also demolished last summer was the pink house north of the Laundromat that the city had acquired in February. That lot is now being developed by Scott Heibult for a Computer Clinic store.
•In July 2015 the dilapidated former turkey barns south of I-90 were demolished to make way for a new trailer business, Crossroads Trailer Sales and Service.
•In August the city approved a $3,000 residential demolition grant to John Oksness (on behalf of the Ed Wehler Estate) to demolish the substandard structures at 715 N. McKenzie. It was the third demolition grant awarded that year, bringing the total grant dollars to $13,000 for the program in 2015.
•The wheels are still in motion for the city to address its biggest blight so far — the former Sharkee’s property on South Highway 75.
Documented code violations on the building include a leaky roof, structural damage, inoperable fire alarm and sprinkler systems, sanitary sewer backups, HVAC and electrical systems in disrepair, extensive mold and more.
Health code violations, primarily the basement sewage backup, led to the business shutdown in April 2014. Then on May 26, 2014, the building suffered damage from a fire reportedly set by arsonists. The arson remains under investigation, but is essentially considered a cold case.
Meanwhile, the property has fallen into further disrepair, and property owner Dave Halverson has reportedly ignored notices of building code violations in April 2014 and April 2015.
As such, city charter and state law allows the city to acquire the property through condemnation proceedings.
A public hearing is set for July 26 as part of that process.

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