Alva Review-Courier -

A public hearing on possible dilapidated properties was held during the Alva City Council meeting Monday, Oct. 19. The properties are located at 1208 Fair, 1313 Fair and 1002 Church.

Mallory Seevers who lives at 930 Church St. was the only person who chose to speak. He said that he and his wife have lived at that location for 51 to 52 years and take pride in keeping their property looking good. Seevers said they have worked weekends and nights maintaining their property. He has two fake knees and has had heart surgery but has continued to work on his yard.

Seevers said people used to tell him all the time how nice his yard looked. They don’t anymore. Now they notice the condition of the property across the street.

With no other comments, the public hearing was closed. The city council then discussed declaring the three properties a public nuisance and authorizing staff to take appropriate action to abate the nuisance. Although he’s been hired as the manager of the Alva Regional Airport, Derrick Courson continues to work as the city inspector until a replacement is hired. Alva Fire Chief Bryan Miller is assisting him in that responsibility.

Courson said some work had been done at 1208 Fair and a crusher has been scheduled to help clean up. Owner Jim Scribner, who attended the meeting, said the crusher arrived that day.

Courson reported no contact and no plan had been made for 1313 Fair.

At 1002 Church, Courson said owner Marc Wallace was planning to build a fence at least six feet high on the back of the property and will clean up the front. The property does include a house which is in good condition. Wallace was also present at the meeting. He stood and said he would fence all the property he could legally to block it from view.

Mayor Kelly Parker asked City Attorney Rick Cunningham to clarify a time frame for cleaning up the property. Cunningham said if the property was declared a nuisance, the city could allow some time for the owner to fix the problem. If the property was not brought up to code, the city could then abate (clean up) the nuisance.

Once the nuisance is abated, the property is no longer under a nuisance declaration. If the owner lets the property get into the same condition later, the city will have to go through the steps again leading up to a declaration of a nuisance.

Scribner reminded the council that “it all didn’t get there in a day” and asked for reasonable time to clean up the property.

Councilmember Randy Stelling made the motion to declare the three properties as a nuisance, seconded by Brandon Sherman. The motion passed unanimously.