Woman told to pay city for demolition

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By Doug Page, Staff Writer 6:14 PM Friday, February 12, 2010

ENGLEWOOD — A judge has ruled a property owner must pay nearly $64,000 for the city’s 2006 demolition of her 40-year-old, three-story building that the city considered abandoned and a nuisance.

Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Dennis Langer’s Feb. 3 order, however, does not necessarily end the near decade-long dispute between the city and Stella Turner. The order can be appealed.

According to court records, the dispute began when Turner evicted her tenant, a group home, for nonpayment of rent. The property on North Union Boulevard was in a residential neighborhood. Because the building was vacant and deteriorating, the city rezoned the property as residential.

Since Turner had not paid her water bill, the city shut off water to the building. Finally in 2003, the city issued an order to Turner to clean up the property. When she did not respond, the city moved to have the building condemned and demolished. The city razed the building in 2006, and a $67,000 tax lien placed on the property.

In her lawsuits in federal and state courts, Turner argued the city unfairly took her property. Turner’s federal lawsuit failed. Twice a Montgomery County judge ruled against her; each time that decision was overturned on procedural issues on appeal.

Turner claimed she was unable to clean up the structure because the city had turned off her water; the city’s rezoning was illegal and deprived her of a chance to lease the facility to another nursing or group home; the city’s ordinance did not provide her with an adequate avenue to appeal the initial city action; the city’s actions violated the Americans With Disabilities Act; and the city illegally destroyed her property.

All of that led to a five-day December trial where a common pleas jury unanimously agreed the preponderance of evidence showed the structure was a public nuisance and demolition was the only remedy.

The jury’s verdict, Langer wrote, “has determined that the demolition was not an erroneous deprivation, and therefore not an unconstitutional taking.”

He ordered Turner to pay $63,991.15 to the city to cover the costs of the 2006 demolition.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2290 or dpage@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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