City officials were weighing use of $100,000 to clean up a downtown property destroyed in a March fire and claim 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, though, put off the possible allocation to give the building owner six months to have the structure demolished. Officials had weighed spending $100,000 toward abatement of that 853 San Benito St. building destroyed in a March fire.
Council members had considered the expenditure in light of what the city code enforcement director called “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 had denied requests by the city to inspect the site before the incident occurred.
The report claims the property is “dangerous and a threat to the public” and that there are areas of the building now damaged beyond repair.
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 in an interview with the Free Lance 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 before Monday’s meeting that he found out about it 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 – who made Monday’s presentation – has been “bugging me for a long time” about the building. Lantz said Chambless in the past week before the meeting “demanded” in a letter that the property owner tear down the building.
“It’s common knowledge that I didn’t have any insurance,” Lantz said. “It’s not a cheap process.”
Lantz at Monday’s council meeting told officials he had received a demolition permit and had plans for an inspection. Council members agreed to have the city monitor the situation for six months to allow for a demolition.
In other matters Monday:
City weighs airshow marketing dollars
Hollister council members want a better understanding of how airshow organizers plan to use $10,000 proposed for additional spending to promote the event.
Council members tabled a proposal from the Hollister airport director, Mike Chambless, to allocate the $10,000. Chambless had explained he expected to spend the additional money – last year’s event had $64,000 in expenses – on Bay Area television and radio commercials.
Councilman Victor Gomez, though, questioned how far the $10,000 would go in the Bay Area TV market, and Mayor Ignacio Velazquez wanted more details about how the airshow organizers would spend the additional money.
“What are we trying to do so we can focus those dollars on that clientele?” Velazquez said.
Council members agreed to put off the consideration so airshow organizers could come back with a more detailed marketing plan.
The idea for more spending on advertising comes after the fifth Hollister Airshow over Father’s Day weekend of this year. The annual event has lost money in four of its five years in existence. The first year was the only one in the black.
Recreation scholarships:
– The council approved 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.
