Jefferson City Council extends moratorium

This boarded up building at 410 Lafayette St. is owned by Jefferson City Parks and Recreation and was once on the demolition block until nearby property owners approached the city to halt such plans. That moratorium was the subject of discussion at Monday night's city council meeting.
This boarded up building at 410 Lafayette St. is owned by Jefferson City Parks and Recreation and was once on the demolition block until nearby property owners approached the city to halt such plans. That moratorium was the subject of discussion at Monday night's city council meeting.

The Jefferson City Council extended a moratorium on city-owned properties again for 60 days.

The moratorium of five properties, located along Lafayette Street and U.S. 50 interchange, owned by the city and the Jefferson City Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department was set to end later this week, but the council approved extending the deadline after Jefferson City resident Cathy Bordner requested the extension.

Bordner, along with Jefferson City residents Jane Beetem and Jenny Smith, are working to create a local historic district in the East McCarty and School streets area to prevent city staff from turning the area into a green space. However, Bordner said they have not made a lot of progress on this yet and needed more time.

The 2006 Central East Side Neighborhood Plan calls for the city to demolish the buildings in that area and turn it into a green space since it is in a floodplain.

Bordner said when property owners purchased the buildings after the plan's adoption, they did not know about the plan.

She said since these properties have not flooded since the 1960's and several property owners are rehabilitating the buildings, the city should not demolish the city-owned buildings and turn the area into a green space.

The five-city owned properties were approved for demolition in March, but the City Council halted the demolition, approving a three-month moratorium. In June, the Council extended the moratorium by 90 days so Bordner, Beetem and Smith could research local historic districts.

To create a local historic district, 75 percent of residents have to agree to the district. Bordner said this is difficult, because the city owns five properties in the area, but city staff will not sign a form stating they would agree to the district.

The city and Parks department own three properties in the 600 block of East McCarty Street, two in the 400 block of Lafayette Street and one in the 600 block of School Street.

Bordner said when they discussed the local historic district with city staff, the staff discouraged the district.

"We then asked if they could help us with research on how other neighborhoods have dealt this, and we were told they won't do that research, that we have to do it on our own," she said. "They're great people, but I just have a huge problem with that, because I think our city staff should be standing behind this neighborhood, and when we're asking for help, our city staff should be willing to do that research and come to us with ideas."

During the council meeting, Bordner specifically mentioned the set demolition of 408 Lafayette St. The city purchased the property for $53,000 in 2009 with the intent of rehabilitating it with Housing and Urban Development Neighborhood Stabilization Program funds, which is through the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to a memorandum from Director of Planning and Protective Services Sonny Sanders.

Sanders said the building was later declared dangerous and would cost about $54,000-$82,000 to fix it. The city spent about $22,400 to install a new roof and perform some other rehabilitation measures.

At that time, properties in that area were in a floodplain, but the 408 Lafayette St. property wasn't. In 2012, FEMA updated the floodplain map, and the property was placed in the 100-year floodplain.

Sanders said the city is not allowed to use federal funds on properties in the floodplain, so the city either has to sell the property or demolish it.

If the city demolishes the property, Sanders said they would not have to pay HUD back more than $78,000 already spent on the property. If the city sells the property, they would still have to pay HUD back but could use the money from the sale to offset the cost.

However, Sanders said since the property is in a floodplain designation, the property owner would be prohibited from making improvements greater than 50 percent of the building's value. City staff said rehabilitation costs would exceed 50 percent of the building's value.

"By razing the property, we would be following adopted planning documents' recommendations for floodplains to revert to open/green space (a best practice in the planning profession); reduce the risk, harm and severity of flooding of area structures; and reduce liability to the city," Sanders said in a memorandum to City Council.

Sanders said creating a local historic district will not allow property owners to bypass FEMA regulations.

"FEMA says just because you have a district and there's a house in it, that house might not be contributing to the historic nature, so they're very specific about the individual house and that the individual house has to be declared historic, not just in a historic district," he said. "So, you could have an historic district and there's a house that's four years old, and it doesn't get out of the FEMA requirements because it's in that historic district."

Bordner said she does not agree and since the city extended the moratorium by 60 days, the next step would be to talk with the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency about local historic districts.

She said even though some of the properties were already in a floodplain, FEMA stopped subsidizing flood insurance around 2012, which impacted the neighborhood, because residents can no longer afford flood insurance. Along with that, property owners are having trouble rehabilitating their homes because of the restrictions.

"They want to rehab their houses in a little, old neighborhood that many of us had written off, and they were trying to revitalize it and they couldn't," Bordner said.

The Central East Side Neighborhood Plan is part of the Comprehensive Plan, which several council members said should be looked at and updated, as well as have more public input in those updates.

In August, the Jefferson City Budget Committee approved adding a city planner to the city's 2018 fiscal year budget. That planner, Sanders said, would help look at and update the Comprehensive Plan, which was last updated in 1996. The plan's lifespan is about 20 years.