City Council Votes To Demolish Hazardous Building

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

The Mesquite City Council instructed staff last week to move forward with the demolition of a dilapidated Mesquite Boulevard building that has long been deemed hazardous and a public nuisance.

The building, an old abandoned motel at 151 E. Mesquite Blvd., has been a subject of discussion by the council since May of 2022. A formal hearing was commenced last October and was continued several times to allow building owner Mathew John to get financing and take action to remedy the problem.

On Feb. 15, the council officially declared deficiencies in the building including presence of asbestos, structural hazards, exposed electrical wiring, water damage, fire hazards and more. An order at that time required John to “repair, abate or remove all of the deficiencies” within a 45 day period.

At last week’s meeting, Mesquite Chief Building Official Jeff Shafer said that the time had come for the city to take action to clear away the hazard.
“Mathew (John) has been before you several times,” Shafer said. “He was supposed to present plans on what he was going to do and how to pay for it. But each time he has come back he has asked for more time. My suggestion is that the council needs to make a firm decision tonight.”

John told the council that he was working on getting financing for the demolition. “I am working on the loan and on getting bank approval,” he said. “But every thirty days there is a different thing to do.

The last meeting I said that I would let them demolish it. But I don’t have the money to do it. I’m not a rich man with money in the bank. So I am just asking the council to give me some time to do this.”

City Attorney Brian Pack said that the city could use Redevelopment Authority (RDA) funds to demolish the building. He added that the funding could be formulated into a loan with interest where John could defer the cost of the demolition for a couple of years. If the loan was not paid back, the city would still have a lien on the property where it would recover the funds at the time of the property’s sale.

“I am comfortable that the city would be protected in that we would get our money at some point,” Pack said. “And that would solve this situation if you are willing to discuss it.”

Councilman Paul Wanlass asked whether the city had looked into what the cost would be and whether it would exceed the $100,000 limit placed on RDA funds to avoid prevailing wage projects.
Pack responded that cost estimates had been provided and that the project would be below the prevailing wage limits.

Councilwoman Karen Fielding pointed out that the project would have to formally be heard by the council sitting as the RDA board to grant the funding. But she was concerned about framing the funding as a loan. “I don’t think that we have ever done that before,” she said.

Pack agreed that it had not been done by the City of Mesquite before. But the practice is allowed by the state code, so it could be done if needed.

Fielding made a motion to direct staff to work with John on the RDA documents needed for the demolition and bring it to the RDA board for approval.

The motion was approved with a unanimous vote.