A Webster City couple has been given 20 more days to move vehicles that city officials say meet the definition of junk.
“I can store them all in the garage if you like,” Josh Gordon, of 1330 Second St., told the City Council Monday.
Gordon and his wife, Katie, addressed the council as it debated what to do about a complaint regarding the vehicles at their property.
City Building Inspector Elise Timm told the council that she had received a complaint from a citizen about the Gordons’ vehicles, That citizen, she said, reported that the presence of the vehicles was an ongoing issue.
Timm presented the council with photos she said show the back yard of the Gordon property. The photos show five vehicles, one of which appears to be a demolition derby car. Another appears to be a pickup filled with debris.
She said the vehicles are not roadworthy. She said under city code, any vehicle that can’t be driven on the streets meets the definition of junk.
The city sent the Gordons a notice on April 18, giving them 20 days to remove the vehicles. As a result of that notice, they asked to address the council Monday.
“I don’t have junk vehicles sitting around,” Josh Gordon said.
He added that the vehicles can’t be seen from the front of his property.
Councilman Logan Welch said the city is cracking down more aggressively on nuisances and code violations.
“I don’t want you to feel targeted,” he told Gordon.
Welch proposed giving the Gordons 20 more days to get the vehicles into the garage and out of sight. They must also give the city proof that any vehicle they think is roadworthy is properly registered.
Josh Gordon said four vehicles can fit in the garage at his property.
The extension was approved by the council, with Councilman Matt McKinney absent from the otherwise unanimous vote.
In another nuisance related manner, the council voted to accept a rundown property at 1014 Elm St. There is a vacant two-story house there.
The city went to court in May 2017 to seize control of the property through the state’s abandoned buildings law.
Following almost two years worth of legal wrangling on April 24 Hamilton County District Court Judge James A. McGlynn awarded the property to the city.
Welch said the city could sell the property or demolish the house and sell the lot.
View this article as it originally appeared in the Daily Freeman-Journal.
Last modified: May 7, 2019