Cayce ready to raze rundown homes

Annie Bryant is happy that Cayce is ready to tear down the decaying house across the street from her home.

“It’s been a nightmare to live with it,” she said.

The building along Tree Street with boarded-up windows, a crumbling foundation and peeling exterior paint is among nine city officials are targeting for demolition soon.

It’s a former military barracks Bryant said was brought in by an ex-neighbor who failed to convert it into a home as promised.

The threat of demolition is a step neighborhood groups have sought to remove homes they say are in extreme disrepair.

It will “take care of what you all have asked us to do,” Mayor Elise Partin told residents as City Council approved the plan last week.

City Hall has compiled a list of 34 homes, apartments and stores that are deemed dilapidated, some of them uninhabited and collapsed.

Nine are in such bad shape “they really need to come down,” Assistant City Manager Shaun Greenwood said. “They are unsafe.”

The other 25 “have issues that can be repaired,” he said.

Some of those slated for demolition could be gone by the end of the year if owners don’t challenge the decision.

Tearing down a home is a step that city leaders call a last resort reserved for those structures so rundown that they are nuisances.

The hope is the threat of demolition will spur owners to make improvements instead, City Manager Rebecca Vance said.

“We would much rather a property owner clean up themselves,” she said.

Owners of homes threatened with demolition can appeal the finding, seeking instead to undertake renovations.

A panel of city-appointed experts with building expertise will review the situation after an appeal and decide if a structure can be salvaged.

The plan is similar to what other Midlands communities do.

But it’s a big step forward in Cayce after years of inattention to cracking down on homeowners who forgo minimal upkeep, officials say.

City officials first adopted minimum maintenance standards for buildings before spotlighting those considered hazardous.

Council members are setting aside $50,000 annually for demolition, with liens placed on the properties to recover the cost upon sale. But recovery “doesn’t happen a lot,” Vance said.

Still, removal of rundown homes is important to assure the vitality of neighborhoods, Partin said.

None of the owners listed in Lexington County records of the nine structures slated for demolition could be reached for comment.

The more aggressive approach on dilapidated homes is overdue, Bryant said.

It’s been difficult to live with an eyesore, she said.

“Now there’s hope it will be coming down,” Bryant said. “Thank God.”

This story was originally published August 9, 2015 at 8:11 PM with the headline "Cayce ready to raze rundown homes."