City officials are weighing use of $100,000 to clean up a downtown property destroyed in a March fire and claiming the owner of the building had been living in an illegally converted portion of the site at the time of the blaze.
City council members Monday will weigh allocating $100,000 toward abatement of the 853 San Benito St. building destroyed in a March fire. The council meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. Monday at Hollister City Hall, 375 Fifth St.
Officials will consider the expenditure in light of what the city calls “obstructive” behavior by the owner, historic building preservationist Tim Lantz, in a staff report. According to the city report on the matter, Lantz shortly after the fire admitted he had been living in the structure at the time of the blaze and he had denied requests by the city to inspect the site before the incident occurred.
A staff report on the agenda item claims the property is “dangerous and a threat to the public.” There are areas of the building that are now damaged beyond repair, according to the report.
Shortly after the late March fire, Lantz told the Free Lance he wanted to know who started the fire, which destroyed a collection of antiques the preservationist valued at $4 million. He owns the Circa Architectural Antiques business that housed the antiques in the building, including the world’s largest collection of Solon and Schemmel Tile Co. materials – or the S&S tile made largely in the 1920s and 1930s. As a preservationist of old buildings, Lantz owned a vast array of components for historic structures. He had everything from a massive door collection down to the screws used in those entryways. At the time of the fire, Lantz had been in the process of setting up an online marketplace for his items, he said at the time.
Lantz called the city’s insistence on getting into the building part of a “witch hunt.”
“Was I obstructive?” he said. “Yes, and I think anybody in his right mind would be.”
He expressed frustration that he found out about the meeting from the Free Lance.
“Don’t you think if something were put on the council agenda about you that you would be notified?” he said. “I haven’t been.”
Lantz said Code Enforcement Director Mike Chambless – scheduled to make Monday’s presentation – has been “bugging me for a long time” about the building. Lantz said Chambless in the past week “demanded” in a letter that the property owner tear down the building.
Chambless could not be reached immediately.
“It’s common knowledge that I didn’t have any insurance,” Lantz said. “It’s not a cheap process.”
In other matters Monday:Â
– The council is set to weigh allocating $10,000 toward marketing of the annual Hollister Airshow. The event over Father’s Day weekend has lost money in four of its first five years running, and officials have talked about expanding the advertising efforts for the airshow.
– The council will weigh another $10,000 allocation to start a recreation division scholarship program “to give qualifying youths in our community the opportunity to participate in sports programs,” according to the agenda.
