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Its days look numbered

The windows were removed on Friday, Feb. 16 from this vacant home at 129 Lafayette Street in downtown Romeo. An asbestos inspection team was also spotted on the property the same day. On Monday, Feb. 19, which was President’s Day and bank holiday, the home was demolished just as The Record was going to press. The Hantz Group owns the home and has not been issued a demolition permit by the Village of Romeo. We will have a follow-up story in the next issue. (Photos by Larry Sobczak)
The windows were removed on Friday, Feb. 16 from this vacant home at 129 Lafayette Street in downtown Romeo. An asbestos inspection team was also spotted on the property the same day. On Monday, Feb. 19, which was President’s Day and bank holiday, the home was demolished just as The Record was going to press. The Hantz Group owns the home and has not been issued a demolition permit by the Village of Romeo. We will have a follow-up story in the next issue. (Photos by Larry Sobczak)

BY STACY SOBOTKA

The fate of a historic building in Romeo is hanging in the balance.
The Hantz Financial House, located at 129 Lafayette Street, was up for discussion at the Romeo Village Board of Trustees meeting Feb. 12.

A decade ago the building was purchased for the purpose of tearing it down. A request for a demolition permit was denied.

“The only option was to have it moved to another place and they were going to pay half the cost to have it moved to another location,” said Romeo Village Trustee Robert Hart.

The elaborate stonework on the building was the main reason the plan did not go through.

The Romeo Downtown Development Authority requested $325,000 to purchase and renovate the building.

The village had received $30,000 from the sale of a property of Mussey Street.

Romeo Village Trustee Zach Fowler suggested the DDA use that money to obtain a construction loan.

“If you want to do a project like this and you’re going to have cash, why not take that on your own instead of coming to us?” he asked.

DDA Chairman Zack Hayes explained that they needed more than their operating budget to renovate the building.

“To take on a project like this is a huge undertaking. We need to take on the project and make it feasible, bring it up to code and restore it to its historical integrity,” he said.

Clerk Mike Lee felt that the sum requested was an exorbitant amount.

“$325,000 is a substantial amount of money to put into something that’s a wreck like that,” he said.

The DDA felt the building was worth saving.

“We understand it’s a lot of money to ask for, but the reason why we pursued it is because it does have in our opinion some historical value,” Hayes said.

The board made a motion to deny the request for $325,000 and after extensive discussion, the board unanimously approved the motion.

Hart encouraged the DDA and Hantz to work with the board to save the building.

“If it can be worked with a better price and with us being able to button it up to look to find somebody that can have [the house], that would be my hope,” he said.

Trustee Meagan Poznanski says she has received e-mails from constituents wanting money spent to save the building and from those wanting their tax dollars spent elsewhere.

“I’ve gotten basically 50/50; yes spend the money and no, there’s better things to spend it on,” she said.

The board then tabled a motion regarding a demolition permit for the property due to the Historic District Commission currently investigating the matter.

The board then approved a motion to continue to work with the two parties to save the building.

The board also returned to the topic of demolition by neglect, which was brought up by Poznanski at last month’s meeting.

Attorney Mark Clark presented the board with copies of ordinances from other municipalities to look over.

Many of the ordinances mirrored the village’s dangerous building ordinance.

“I encourage you to look at your existing dangerous buildings ordinance to see if you want to make a wholesale revision or if you just want to tighten up some things. I think you’ve got the basic framework to accomplish what you want to accomplish,” Clark said.

Correction…

In a story about an abandoned home on 129 West Lafayette in Romeo, it was misstated that the Romeo Downtown Development Authority (DDA) received funds from the sale of a vacant lot on Mussey Street. The Village of Romeo received the proceeds from the sale of the lot. The error has been corrected in this story.

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