AUBURN – The Auburn City Council approved actions Monday to demolish unsafe houses and authorize a city clean up of a an 11th Street residence.

City Attorney Angelo Ligouri said the owners of a house at 1220 11th St. were notified in November of 2019 and again in 2020 about city code violations, but the property continued to be brought up by the board of health.

He said three separate code enforcement officers have worked with the owners to improve or maintain the property. He said it was overgrown with vegetation this summer and personal items remain scattered across the landscape.

Ligouri: “The property has just continued to get worse.”

 

 

The council approved a resolution that authorizes the street department to clean up the property, if the owner does not do it.

The council also passed a resolution authorizing demolition of houses at 1715 M St. and 1110 13th St.

Ligouri called the M Street house unlocked, open and unlivable.

Ligouri: “The property owner knows it’s unlivable. He stated himself it’s unlivable. It’s open too, as well.”

He said the property is available to animals and trespassers have taken shelter there.

Ligouri: “We don’t want this building available to these people.”

Councilman Brian Lavigne said the investment needed to restore the house would surely exceed the sale price and said the lot is too small to build on even after it is cleared.

The council deemed the house on 13th Street to be unsafe. Ligouri said it is also open and completely unlivable.