Major Andrews III sat in his yard Tuesday afternoon fixing a weed-eater next to the frame of the house he lost during the Feb. 23 EF-3 tornado.
With the second floor of his house nearly gone and his wife’s greenhouse flattened, he said he wants to build a new house on Shady Street.
Andrews is one of about 27 homeowners who received letters from the city of Columbus two weeks ago. Those homeowners have until Monday to let the code enforcement office know if they plan to repair, demolish or have the city demolish the houses for a fee.
“I think I did get a letter,” Andrews said. “I don’t know why the city sent out letters when we don’t have a dime.”
Since the tornado, Andrews has been staying with his son — local architect Major Andrews IV — and will move into an apartment in the coming weeks. He said his homeowner’s insurance company terminated coverage for the elder Andrews’ home before the storm hit, leaving him in a financial bind. For weeks, Andrews said he has been coming back to his property, cleaning the yard and is now brainstorming plans to build a new house next to the one the storm destroyed.
“I don’t know where I’m going to get the money from,” Andrews said. “It just made me mad (getting the letter).”
Code Enforcement Officer Tomarris Jones said the letters were mailed to residents whose homes were more than 50-percent damaged from the tornado.
“We stated that we are here to work with the citizens and property owners that had storm-damaged houses,” Jones said. “We are committed to get the city back to the quality appearance it was before the tornado hit. We just want to know what their plan of action is.”
Homeowners who received letters need to contact the code enforcement office with their plan of action by Monday. Jones said if no progress has been made in 45 days, the city will start the abatement process. With that, the city will give homeowners “a reasonable amount of time” to restore the property to code requirements before the city completes the work itself and charges the parcel owner for it through a property tax lien.
“The mayor and council will approve giving our public works department permission to go onto the property to demo and clean that lot up,” Jones said.
So far, Jones said 12 homeowners have responded to the city’s letters. He added the majority of the homeowners lived on the north side of town on Shady, Moss and Railroad streets.
“We’ve been getting pretty good responses from the homeowners,” Jones said. “We had several that want to demolish the structure and some of them are going to authorize the city to abate the structure.”
Jones said the city needed to take action because some structures were deemed unsafe and a liability.
“It’s been over three months and we still have some storm-damaged houses,” Jones said. “We realize it’s not an overnight process, and we just want to know what the owner’s plan of action is. We just can’t let these houses sit there in the unsafe condition that it’s in right now. We basically just want to know what their plan of action is before we proceed and go onto the property and clean it and charge them a fee.”
Jones said that the city will charge various fees based on the amount of debris from demolition, loads to the landfill and manpower it takes to clean up the lot.
The Federal Emergency Management Administration has approved relief for public property damaged in the storm but has so far denied relief for individuals, meaning property owners are left paying out-of-pocket for any repair costs not covered by insurance. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency has appealed to FEMA to reverse that decision.
Councilmen reactions
Ward 3 Councilman Charlie Box and Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones said they were unaware code enforcement sent the letters to storm victims, but both agreed the city needs to continue moving past the storm.
“I know there are people that haven’t done anything with their homes,” Councilman Jones said. “They’ve got to do something with them soon. We’ve got some houses that are really, really bad damaged over there. We know that they’re not going to be able to rebuild, but they (are) just letting them sit there. … We’re trying to make them go ahead and tear them down, or whatever they’re going to do to try and get the city looking back a little bit better.”
Ward 6 Councilman Bill Gavin said he knew about the letters before they were sent. With the summer heat rising, he said, dilapidated houses and debris piling creates a hazard for the city due to snake and insect infestation.
“At some point we have to clean this up,” Gavin said. “What we’re trying to do is get them to go ahead and make a commitment to either rebuild their home, demolish it or whatever so we can get the city back to some kind of normal activity. We just need them to make a decision.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.