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SOUTH BEND & SAINT JOSEPH COUNTY HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION 235-9798 u :+ NiI�M11 Thursday, February 21, 2002 TO: Kelly Pierce FROM: Karen R. Hammond -Nash Assistant Director RE: 709 Arch Street At the Neighborhood Association Meeting yesterday, you mentioned that your company has handled or facilitated sales involving distressed properties, and might be able to negotiate with the owners of 709 Arch Street. The present owner is: Sunrise Atlantic Corporation 1750 East Sunrise Boulevard Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33304 Rhonda believes that that company has a representative or agent in the area, but no one here knows how to contact that person. The company keeps all information sent to their main office, and the local guy is rarely involved. There must be a stack of liens on the property, from all the fines levied prior to the demolition order, and then from the demolition and re -grading itself. If those fines and costs are not paid, then any purchaser will take subject to the fines and costs. Those costs alone may be more than many buyers would find the property to be worth, because the lot is too small to build upon, under present code. That is one of the reasons why HPC tried so hard to push for a different solution from demolition of that house. I have no idea whether the City would consider any sort of zoning variance. If your neighborhood association wishes to put a garden there, I suggest that you write to the owner and seek permission. If you don't get an answer, you can write again, and indicate that you will interpret silence as agreement. Then get a Certificate of Appropriateness, and dig right in. The only down side is that if the present owner were to re -assert ownership, or if the city were to finally seize and sell the property, then any fencing or planting could be plowed under or pulled up at will by that owner. You might want to see what you can find out from Sunshine and/or the City about time frames for something to happen, and then consider whether the risk is so minimal that it is worth taking, or so imminent that your labor might really be lost. Personally, I suspect that the road to any change in ownership, or assertion of ownership, is likely to be so long, that you really might as well go for it, as long as you have people who have the time, and want to garden. Just don't underestimate the time a garden takes.