BY LARRY SOBCZAK
EDITOR
An old and vacant home owned by Hantz Bank located at 129 Lafayette Street in Romeo was demolished the morning of Feb. 19 without a demolition permit from the village.
“They will have to pay a $500 fine and they cannot apply for a building permit for the property for five years,” said Romeo Village President Tadd Siglow.
The Romeo Downtown Development Authority (DDA) had approached the Romeo Village Council on Feb 12 with a $325,000 request to move and renovate the home but the village council denied the request.
The board then tabled a motion regarding a demolition permit for the property due to the Historic District Commission currently investigating the matter.
Members of the DDA, the village council and the Historic District Commission had expressed hope for a viable solution to the abandoned home prior to the demolition.
Calls for comment from Hantz Bank were not returned before press time.
Siglow wonder how serious Hantz Bank was about saving the home considering it took less than a week for a demolition crew to begin work on dismantling the home.
The windows of the home were removed on Friday, Feb. 16 and an asbestos inspection team was spotted on site the same day.
“I think that Hantz was more than generous in offering the home for $1 and waiting almost 10 years for a response,” Siglow said.
Siglow said that he did not condone knocking down the house without a permit but thought the house had reached the end of its useful life.
“The house had to go,” he said. “It had no historic value and it was a mess.”
Siglow said that he recently noticed an old photograph from the 1940s and there was a different home on the site. He also said that no one has come forward with information that someone historically significant had ever lived in the home.
The village council has had off-and-on debates about enacting an ordinance aimed at preventing so-called “demolition by neglect” where a homeowner appears to deliberately neglect a home with the intent of building a case for demolition.
The village council was given similar ordinance in nearby communities.
The house on West Lafayette marks the fifth home demolished in the village since 2016.
Two of the demolished homes were on North Bailey Street, one was on South Bailey Street and another was on Dickenson Street.
