City council approves demolition of home after owner “lost physical control”

SALISBURY — The Salisbury City Council approved an ordinance on Tuesday that allows the city to demolish a home that has been the subject of complaints and law enforcement calls for a decade.

Michael Cotilla, code services manager for the city, presented the history of the property to the city council during its meeting on Tuesday. He said that the property, located on Foster Lane off of Morlan Park Road, was first brought to code enforcement’s attention in 2014. Since then, the property has been the subject of multiple nuisance code and minimum housing violations and code code enforcement has performed multiple trash abatements, one in 2018 for $8,125 and one in 2023 for $18,500.

The owner of the property was cited on Dec. 1, 2022 because the residence on the property was uninhabitable, with the roof having caved in places, said Cotilla. In January of 2023, the owner signed an intent to repair document that gave them 90 days to clean up the trash on the property and make necessary repairs to the home.

By September of 2023, the conditions on the property had not improved, so code enforcement performed the abatement and all items of trash were removed, said Cotilla.

“May of 2024, there’s been no attempt to bring the property into compliance with either the minimum housing violations or the nuisance violations. In fact, it’s currently in worse condition than it was in 2018,” said Cotilla.

In June of 2024, code enforcement also received complaints about criminal activity that was occurring on the property, he said. Since 2018, there have been 63 calls for service to emergency services including drug overdoses, physical or verbal altercations and physical or verbal disturbances. Officers with the police department and Alcohol Law Enforcement spoke with the property owner about the increased criminal activity and told her that she could lose the property due to them.

“She no longer had physical control of her property and it had been taken over by several individuals who had since begun living in makeshift housing and tents throughout the property. She also expressed her desire to sell the property, but was unable to do so in the property’s current condition,” said Cotilla.

The police department and code enforcement then worked with the owner, who asked for assistance clearing the squatters from the property, and secured a trespass agreement before giving verbal and written notice to the people living there on June 26 and July 1 that they needed to vacate.

On June 26, the city departments also connected with Rowan Helping Ministries and were able to secure safe housing for the property owner in the form of an apartment, said Cotilla. When Mayor Karen Alexander said that she was happy that the city had been able to find housing for the property owner, Cotilla noted that she was currently doing well and thanked Rowan Helping Ministries for providing a “safe and sanitary place to live.”

After Cotilla’s presentation, the councilors voted unanimously to pass an ordinance that will allow the city to demolish all of the structures, including the house and a barn, on the property and remove or abate all trash on the property, which will be taken to the landfill. The ordinance also states that the cost of the demolition will be a lien on the property.

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