Property owner may raze Wade building

The owner of the Wade Clinic Building said Thursday it would be cheaper to demolish the building than to bring it into compliance with what he calls "unreasonable codes."

"We have no interest in wanting to have to tear it down, but the city is forcing us to make that decision," said Morin M. "Monty" Scott Jr., president of SouthWest Hotels Inc., owner of the building at 231 Central Ave., adjacent to the Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa.

"It would cost about $75,000 to tear it down, and they are talking about $250,000 to $300,000 to bring the building up to what we believe are unreasonable codes, given the condition of the building," he said.

Hot Springs Fire Chief Ed Davis told the Hot Springs Board of Directors at its agenda meeting Tuesday that Scott had filed an appeal on the fire department's finding that the building was unsafe, which was upheld by the Board of Adjustments and Appeals.

In a Jan. 21 letter to the Hot Springs Historic District Commission, Scott said it was with "great disappointment we are requesting a demolition permit for the Wade Clinic Building at 231 Central Ave."

"Despite numerous meetings with the fire chief and city manager, and spending more than $75,000 on a new roof, asbestos abatement, legal fees, architectural fees and facade stabilization to comply with fire safety and building codes, we are still at an impasse on how to save the Wade Clinic Building, resulting in a harmful outcome to all," the letter states.

Scott said that with no interest from the public to rent the property, and with no desire to sell it, it would be "economically irresponsible to put more money into the building."

"We can demo the building, gain parking for our customers and alleviate further costs to the property. If there is anything you can do to influence the city board of directors to change their financially irresponsible policy and save the Wade building, we hope you will do so," he said in the letter to the Historic District Commission.

The Wade building and 23 others located in the Thermal Basin Fire District were found to be unsafe after inspections were made by the the Hot Springs Fire Department. Property owners were given a period of time to bring the buildings into compliance with the existing building code contained in the Thermal Basin Fire District requirements, or with the state fire codes, which became effective Jan. 1, 2014.

The fire district, created in December 2013, is designed to protect the city's legacy structures in the downtown area and allows unsafe buildings to be rehabilitated through the addition of a fire sprinkler system and adequate means of egress.

Following Davis' presentation of the agenda item, City Attorney Brian Albright told the directors that the appeal was a "quasi-judicial appeal" where the board would sit essentially as judges, and asked that they not engage in any communication regarding the matter without the building owner present so his procedural due process rights would not be violated.

Albright said Thursday he believes a YouTube video reposted by Mayor Ruth Carney on her Facebook page of the presentation of the agenda item "did not violate the parameters we aspire to maintain in respect to an appeal of this nature."

"The way I understand it, she posted the link without any comment by her, so I don't think that violated any of the parameters," he said.

The video was removed from Facebook early Thursday morning.

"My opinion is that by posting that, it runs counter to the advise the board was given," City Manager David Watkins said Thursday.

"To me the video is misleading and makes it sound like we're going to order the property owners to tear down the building. The thing about the posting was that it shows a bias, in my opinion. They were told not to have any comment," he said.

Attempts to reach Carney for comment were unsuccessful.

Local on 01/30/2015

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