Thanks to a tip from a neighbor, CHS has learned that change is coming for the "biohazard house" block of Belmont Ave E that has been bogged down by a financially troubled landowner and a failed development project. We also have information on the expanded use of an ordinance in the city that will help Seattle neighborhoods deal with "chronic nuisance" properties -- and the two Hill-area properties being looked at next for intervention.
According to King County Records, one of the three Belmont Ave E houses owned by Kyle Clark has been foreclosed and will go to auction late this spring. Calhoun, well known in CHS comments for his unique take on life in the city, said that neighbors have been told that all three parcels owned by Clark are part of the process:
The next step is for the bank to sell the 3 lots to someone who will then develop them into, hopefully, something nice for the neighborhood. It will be important for Capitol Hill-ites to be involved in the process and to ensure that something ugly/intrusive is not built there. I hope you will do an update on the blog, and also track this project as it goes forward.
We only find records for foreclosure on the 508 Belmont Ave E property at this time. Attempts to contact Clark -- via a phone number on an +$8,000 check he bounced with the city -- were not successful.
In the meantime, the pond that formed after the September razing of the "biohazard house" at 502 Belmont Ave E was reported to the city earlier this year and the contractor for the property was required to fill it in thus removing a strange little forest-like scene that was forming just blocks from Broadway.
The difficulties encountered by neighbors in spurring action on the Clark property might not be a thing of the past but expanded use of rules put into effect by the City Council in 2009 should at least streamline part of the process. It took a campaign by neighbors -- including a post to CHS -- to bring action on the 502 house despite several complaints and regular visits from police to a home so contaminated with drug and human waste that cops refused to enter the property.
Seattle's "chronic nuisance" ordinance was sponsored by Council member Tim Burgess and passed unanimously in 2009. The ACLU opposed the bill, arguing it gives the Chief of Police too much discretion and could unfairly affect low-income people and victims of domestic violence. The bill rewrote the city's nuisance laws, which had been geared toward nightclubs, to streamline the process of declaring a nuisance property.
Under the law, properties can be declared nuisances if crimes such as assaults, prostitution or drug deals are reported at least three times within 60 days or seven times in a year. The property owner would then have 30 days to work with SPD to solve the problem. After that, fines and/or lawsuits kick in.
Two properties on or near the Hill are on SPD's chronic nuisance watch list, and the department may expand its use of the law this year. Only two properties in the city were declared nuisances in 2010, the first year the law was in effect. However, the department may declare as many as ten properties nuisances this year (two in each precinct), according to a report presented to the City Council's Public Safety and Education Committee last month.
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The two properties pursued under the law last year were a motel on Aurora Ave N and an apartment building in Belltown. However, the report includes a list of properties the department is monitoring for "nuisance activity." These include a residence on E Howell St near 18th Ave (12 reported incidents) and a health center on Summit Ave near Spring (26 reported incidents).
According to the P.I., SPD has found the ordinance useful for use as leverage against property owners:
But police have monitored more than 20 locations under the new law, which gives the city more leverage in dealing with landlords and business owners who ignore, neglect or encourage crimes, drugs, or other nuisances on their property.
"The single biggest impact for us is not to use it, but to negotiate with people while using the threat of the ordinance," Assistant Police Chief Mike Sanford said.
Of the two properties pursued last year, the motel on Aurora was sold shortly after being declared a nuisance, and the new owners shut it down. The Belltown apartment building worked with SPD during the thirty-day window to make changes, such as installing new doors and electronic locks. The number of 911 calls went down significantly after the changes, the report says.
Back on Belmont, change has been a long time coming for the three old homes that Clark had acquired with an eye toward tearing down and developing the land. In 2006, he filed plans for a 6-story, 42-unit apartment building at the site. Those plans, of course, never went anywhere. The city took Clark to court over the situation at the 508 property before moving forward with the demolition this past fall.
(Images: CHS)
