By Jessica Mathews/News@whmi.com


An old building on Barnard Street in the City of Howell is set to be torn down.

The old school building at 415 North Barnard Street is owned by the City but said to be in a bad shape of disrepair. Due to the age and construction of the building, an asbestos survey was performed this past January. That survey revealed asbestos in the main building and in a storage building on the property. At Monday night’s virtual meeting, City Council approved awarding the contract to Regal Demolition, the low bidder at $89,585. That includes demolition and removal of the main building and storage building, removal of the basement and foundations, complete asbestos abatement and restoration of the lot.

The motion was ultimately approved unanimously, despite some initial concerns raised by members about proceeding with the project due to financial uncertainties. It was later agreed it was a good price that will result in a roughly $50,000 savings as $140,000 was budgeted for the demolition project. It also eliminates blight and paves the way for potential new development.

Mayor Pro-Tem Steve Manor said he would support the majority and wants the building down but hopes they don’t regret the decision and need that money later on. He questioned the wisdom in spending the money on the project now in light of uncertainty around the state’s economic future. Manor said he recognized the project was budgeted and the City is ok for the next several months but one year from now, he’s afraid of having to make serious reductions and was hesitant to spend that kind of money at this time. Manor clarified he wasn’t debating the building needs to come down or the price, it was just a question of if Council should spend the money considering a pretty dim future for finances for municipal governments in the state. He added a good point was raised that the City will be basically saving $50,000 by accepting the bid.

Councilman Dr. Bob Ellis commented tearing the building down is way overdue. He supported the motion “enthusiastically”, saying they need to do whatever can to reduce blight in the City and it looks bad for them to have a derelict building out there and then try to enforce anti-blight standards but have an old building sitting for a couple of years. Also if it gets demolished, Ellis noted they could potentially use the land for other development.

Councilwoman Jan Lobur commented she felt it was a valuable piece of property and they need to figure out what to do with it – adding she was in total agreement of having it torn down as it could be something to use for future development but also understood financial concerns.

Councilwoman Jeanette Ambrose said she was very hesitant and understands the blight of the building, which is not in good condition and needs to come down. She expressed concerns about the city’s financial situation and initially said as much as she wants the building torn down; she wasn’t inclined to vote for it at this time.

Councilman Randy Greene agreed with the concept that the City needs to take care of the property - considering letters the City has sent to residents warning people to keep up their properties or they would be condemned to be followed by court action. Greene said it is a pretty bad looking piece of property and was worried they might not get as good of a contract price for demolition in a few years and would save money by doing it now.

Mayor Nick Proctor commented concerns about the budget did not go unnoticed but felt it would be a bit of hypocrisy for the City to not take care of its own building if there is funding to do it. He noted the project was budgeted and felt Council should expend the money and take the buildings down. Proctor asked staff to advise Council on how many residential plats they could potentially get out of the property if it was converted, as well as a potential selling price to a developer. He felt Council should move smartly now on assessing what they can get out of the property and move along that line quickly. Proctor said the quicker they can return the property to the tax rolls the better and he wants to start assessing how many lots they could get out of it. He added that some neighbors he personally spoke with were in support of tearing down the building to eliminate the blight and improve surrounding property values.

There were some questions raised about whether part of the property is designated parkland so that will be investigated and a legal opinion is being sought. Staff noted that a baseline survey has been performed but they didn’t want to go to the next step and look at any potential lot splits until council voted to proceed with the demolition. Demolition work is slated to start July 22nd and take around three weeks to complete. Staff indicated there would probably be ten days of asbestos mitigation and then crews would go to full on demolition. The City will be conducting community outreach efforts about the upcoming work.