The owners of a badly damaged building at 411 Prospect St. have been asked to report to Webster City officials next month regarding their progress on securing financing and making repairs.
Brian Hubbard and Matthew Hubbard, owners of Hubbard Concrete Masonry Repair, had asked city Building Inspector Elise Timm for more time to fix up the property.
Timm said she only has the authority to give a property owner 30 days to make repairs. The Hubbards asked for a year, so the matter came to the City Council Monday.
The building is a one-story concrete block structure with two overhead doors. In the past, it was home to a sanitation company and later, a roofing company.
Timm presented the council with photos of the property which show that part of the roof and part of one wall have collapsed. The roof apparently fell in during a fire in the 1990s.
Timm sent Hubbard Concrete Masonry Repair and Pulis Investments LLC an unsafe building notice on Jan. 15.
Hubbard Concrete Masonry Repair just bought the building from Pulis Investments LLC. The final payment was made Monday.
Matthew Hubbard told the council Monday that his company is working to get the money it needs to make the repairs. He said that once the money is secured, it will take six months to do the work.
He added that some improvements, such as installing windows, have started.
When Councilman Logan Welch asked what the future plans for the building are, Matthew Hubbard replied ”just storage, more or less.”
Welch said the city is now moving on building code violations that ”were let slide in the past.”
But he added that the council is willing to work with property owners who will communicate their plans to city officials.
”It sounds like you guys are willing to do that,” he said.
Welch moved that the council take no action and consider the issue again on March 18. Mayor John Hawkins and Councilman Jim Talbot agreed. Councilmen Matt McKinney and Brian Miller were absent.
In another property-related matter, the council sold four houses that the city government acquired using the state’s abandoned buildings law.
These sales were approved:
• 1421 Second St. to Luis O. Celis Martinez and Ana Elizabeth Sanjuan Torrones, of Webster City, for $6,000.
• 827 Water St. to Tony and Betty Ann Sponsel, of Blairsburg, for $16,363.
• 921 James St. to Russell E. Mourton II, of Webster City, for $2,500.
• 806 Stockdale St. to Jeremy and Elise Timm, of Stratford, for $1,050.
City Attorney Zach Chizek said the buyers will pay 90 percent of the purchase price up front. They will pay the remaining 10 percent and get the deed to the property after the houses have been repaired.
by BILL SHEA – Daily Freeman-Journal
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Last modified: February 19, 2019