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County To File Lien For Cleanup Of Alger Sullivan Property, Fines Continue To Add Up
June 5, 2018
Escambia County will file a lien against the former Alger Sullivan Lumber Mill property in Century to pay for a recent cleanup, and daily code violation fines are continuing to accumulate, according to Escambia County.
The 38-acre industrial property was heavily damaged and sat untouched since 150 mph tornado winds the afternoon of February 15, 2016.
Escambia County crews entered the property and performed some cutting and trimming, cleaned around a concrete ditch, removed four 30-yard dumpsters of debris and replaced 80-feet of chain link fence that was down. The Mosquito Control Division was also on site to inspect and treat any areas that were favorable for mosquito breeding. The cleanup area was concentrated on the portion of the property behind residences on Front Street.
The cleanup cost assessed by the county was $5,450 — $2,589.29 for 150 hours of labor, $2,613.75 in equipment costs and $246.96 in material costs.
The property owners — listed in county records as DMT Holdings LLC in Navarre and DMT Holdings LLC in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada — were cited by Escambia County Code Enforcement. The county provides code enforcement services under contract within the town limits of Century.
With no response from the owners. a special magistrate for Escambia County issued an order against the property at One Lumber Road on October 4, 2016, giving the owners until November 1, 2016, to clean up the property. Failing to comply, the property owners were assessed costs of $1,100, and fines of $50 per day have been accruing ever since. To date, the property owners have accrued fines in excess of $30,000.
Escambia County received three bids for the demolition and cleanup of the mill, but the low bid was $800,000 — far in excess of the county’s entire cleanup budget. Last fiscal year, Escambia County spent $435,000 abate properties. This fiscal year, the budget is up to $463,425. Property records show the entire property is assessed at a value of $802,189.
Seizing the property under legal channels has also been problematic due to an outstanding mortgage and back taxes.
NorthEscambia.com and courtesy file photos, click to enlarge.
Comments
14 Responses to “County To File Lien For Cleanup Of Alger Sullivan Property, Fines Continue To Add Up”
When the wind is high, as tonight I stay awake if I have too all night to keep my boys safe. Tonight Feb.5th, 2020 as as many nights before. Hearing, the fans from the remains of the sawmill brings back my PTSD, my youngest son’s PTSD and my dogs PTSD. I WILL be checking in the morning who is truly responsible for what is left of this “land mark, MY ASS. I am filing suit against who ever has to clean this mess up. I am done! My house had 4900 dollars worth of damage because of the metal from the “landmark” when an EF3 hit my house. I was the only one on front street who had insurance to have my original house standing and fixed with in four months. I was not one of the people on Front street, who really did not own their home, but a family member did, and got , even though small, a brand new house. They finally have to pay land taxes and insurance, let’s see how many keep these small payments up. And, lets see if they don’t, I bet they get to keep their homes anyway. The houses that were “built” looked just as bad before the tornado , need proof, look up Front Street on Google Maps.
The old jail and Alger Sullivan saw mill are still eyesores for one reason; INACTION ON THE PART OF OUR ESTEEMED COUNTY COMMISSION.
Would the tall grass and weeds also be considered evidence at the jail site?
So many great ideas. The main problem is the county has to follow those pesky laws and procedures. As for the jail , the pending lawsuits may prevent demolition because the building is evidence. Imagine the irony of going to jail for destroying evidence at the old jail. Contact your Commissioner,ask questions, and be informed.
Rebid the demolition. Send invitations to bid from some out of area excavators from Mobile and Montgomery. $800,000 is way high if the bidder gets salvation rights. Most of that steel building components were not damaged.
In regard to attacking the bank who holds the mortgage, or the owners, they just lost everything when a tornado destroyed their collateral and investments. It seems like some folks just do not know what they are doing. Foreclose the lien. Eliminate the bank and owner’s interest, and put the property back on the market. I know excavators who if they knew they could get half of that bid would jump at the opportunity to get the good steel components in that building. It is a simple demo. Oh, and if you want to attack anybody after the Century tornado, attack those local, state and Federal bureaucrats who failed to get disaster money just for this type of clean up.
Why is Escambia County not being held responsible for the massive eyesore of the old jail that exploded. It really looks bad. I believe it blew up prior to the tornado in Century. Any other citizen would have been fined for a similar eyesore.
There has to be several thousands of dollars in scrap metals on that property, maybe enough to offset the the clean up some.
Don’t forget we, the tax payers, are paying for the multi-million dollar clean-up of Rolling Hills C&D landfill.. Seven years of violations of water run off onto people’s yards, the smell of hydrogen sulfate 24/7, illegal dumping, the list is 17 violation long – here is the kicker – we pay to have it cleaned up and the owner gets to keep the property – no lein at all.
@anne 1 of 2
It’s not so hard if you read between the lines.
Way to go, that’s really solving the problem (sarcasm)
Hey they they are Canadians, no sweat off their backs. They will change Corp. and go at it again.
If they would tell all of us to go there and get what we need it would be an empty spot in a month. I’ll be glad to sign a paper on being responsible for my injuries should the roof cave in or whatever. In the meantime, I’ve written this before, I want those stairs! Why does everything have to be so hard?
This is why we need stricter regulation on banks and businesses ext that are able to own homes/property. How many homes are owned by banks and are in DEPLORABLE AND MISERABLE condition throughout Escambia county and the United States. There is NO excuse that a home should look DISGUSTING and bring down other home values in the area. Hold these Wall Street scam artists accountable. Trust me, they HAVE the money. I shouldn’t have to look at a dilapidated home across the street when it’s owned by a billion dollar a year profit bank. UNBELIEVABLE. And no, I am not a liberal.
If this property were located anywhere else in the county, the powers to be would have cut through the BS and red tape and gotten it cleaned up long ago. The owners and mortgage holder have obviously abandoned the property because it looks like the clean up costs will exceed the value of the property by many thousand dollars. That “assessed value” of $802,000 was based on the property and improvements that were in place. Now the improvements are a massive pile of rubble. If you figured a more realistic value on the property, say $10,000 per acre, it is worth $400,000 or less in real dollars after it is cleaned up. . The County will sooner or later have to take the bull by the horns and clean this property up, acquire title to it, and re-develop it to some use that benefits the community. Why not make it sooner?