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A special Eagle Lake city council meeting was held March 25, conducting public hearings and acting on a dozen plus buildings within the city that are in “Violation of the Dangerous and Substandard Building Ordinance.”
Council members met with building owners for two hours that evening, with major action advised to be taken on several properties.
The special meeting comes after the city’s recent motivation to revitalize Eagle Lake in an effort to make the town “a better place to live.”
City council members urged that what felt like nitpicking to some of the owners in attendance was for the betterment of Eagle Lake, with the city’s main thought process being “what can we do for this town?”
“You understand what the city wants from the residents,” said councilmembers. “We’re not taking this out on anyone, it’s ‘what can we do for this town?’ It’s for the people. What can we do to make this a nice place to live? We need your efforts.”
Mayor Timothy Kelley echoed the sentiment of councilmembers and reminded building owners what the purpose of the meeting was for. Regardless, all those on the city council agenda had seen their properties violate the “dangerous and substandard” building ordinance and as a result, the city must take action.
“That’s our goal with everything that’s on this sheet, is to either fix it up or tear it down,” said Kelley. “I mean, most of these, if not all of them, need to be torn down. And if they’re salvageable, and whomever owns it can salvage it in a reasonable amount of time, not next year, not six months from now.”
Kelley was correct in his assessment, with the council acting to demolish most of the properties on the agenda item if the owners themselves failed to do so. The action wasn’t taken suddenly without any notice, as the property owners have been in violation for some time due to the conditions of their properties.
Several properties were relieved from demolition given that the property conditions weren’t as severe as others on the agenda item, with the right amount of work able to fix the reasoning for the violations.
The listed properties on the agendas that have been “determined to be in Violation of the Dangerous and Substandard Building Ordinance” are:
• 411 Scott Ave.
• 731 South McCarty Ave.
• 810 East Main
• 305 Third St.
• 603 West Main
• 606 Maple
• 728 East Main
• 906 North Lake
• 815 East D St.
• 1203 North St.
• 108 East Union
• 701 Gonzales
• 808 West Main
• 511 McCreary The next Eagle Lake city council meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 15.
