The city is tearing down several homes on Lafayette, Hickory and School streets that are located in the national floodplain, including one that has vexed the city for a decade.
Demolition of the home at 408 Lafayette St. began Monday, after more than 10 years of attempting to either rehabilitate the home using grant funding or sell the property to private developers.
The city contracted Tubbs and Son Construction to demolish 408 Lafayette St. at a cost of $13,950.
Jefferson City purchased the home in 2009 for $53,000 from The Central Trust Bank using Neighborhood Stabilization funds, a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, with the intention of restoring the structure to serve as a single-family home.
When the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) redrew the national flood lines in 2012, the home fell into the national floodplain.
Before this, the intention was to invest into fixing up the rest of Lafayette Street along with the five-bedroom, three-bath, brick home built in 1910. The city had already spent $78,000 repairing bits and pieces, including the roof of the home, until 2012, when FEMA informed the city that federal funding cannot be used to invest in properties that lie within the federal floodplain.
“There was a substantial investment,” City Attorney Ryan Moehlman said.
The city was able to remove the federal ties years ago by refunding the $78,000 to the federal government, although this money was reallocated back to Jefferson City for other projects.
“Essentially, we had to give (the money) back to the feds and then the feds reallocated that back to the city, and we’re able to use that for other projects, thereby removing the federal ties,” Moehlman said. “Now the city owns that property, free and clear of any federal ties.”
Furthermore, FEMA has a “50 percent rule,” a regulation of the National Flood Insurance Program, that prohibits the city or developers from investing more than 50 percent of the structure’s current market value into the property for improvements or repairs.
In 2018, a local building official identified that the cost to repair the building would exceed 50 percent of the home’s market value.
The city applied to the Historic Preservation Commission for a demolition permit for 408 Lafayette St. in 2017, citing the property as dangerous and structurally unsound.
Planning & Protective Services Director Clint Smith said city staff members had met with the HPC again recently to informally discuss potential options for the building. The property, which the city deemed dangerous in 2017, was further damaged by the 2019 tornado and restricted due to federal regulations.
“I’m sure if you ask (the HPC), their preference is to try and preserve (the building), but I think they understand the circumstances here,” Smith said.
There are no specific plans in place as of now, though there were discussions in May at a City Council meeting to convert the area into a greenspace.
Smith said in a May council meeting there were several attempts to sell the property since 2017 to local redevelopers in an attempt to keep the structure preserved, though sales were never successful.
Moehlman said one individual or firm expressed interest in purchasing the property, but did not offer enough money.
“The city had a minimum bid requirement on there, we received one offer and that bid requirement was not met,” Moehlman said.
FEMA’s 50 percent rule does not apply to properties that lie within a historic district.
In 2018, City Council voted to pass an ordinance designating the property as well as the surrounding streets a historic district: the School Street Local Historic District. This did not allow the city to get around FEMA’s 50-percent regulations, however, since FEMA will only recognize exceptions listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Lafayette Street and the surrounding Historic Foot Area were also deemed a historic legacy district by the City Council in late 2022.
The city also paid contractors to demolish the properties at 410 Lafayette St. and 623 School St.
Two more demolitions will follow within the next two weeks at 420 Hickory St. and 214 Lafayette St.
The city paid $12,223 to Mid-Missouri Earth Movers LLC to tear down the 1½-story brick house at 410 Lafayette St., which the city purchased from Larry Rains in 2017.
According to city records, the three-bedroom, one-bath home is also in the federal floodplain and was vacant for five years before the city purchased the property. This home was built in 1900 and used as a residential home for several years. Rains had attempted to rehabilitate the interior, according to Neighborhood Services Supervisor Rachel Senzee, although city staff estimated the final cost to make the building habitable at more than $56,000.
The city attempted to sell the property in 2017 for redevelopment.
The city also contracted Mid-Missouri Earth Movers for the demolition of 623 School St. at a cost of $10,668. The city purchased this home from Rains in 2016 as a package for a total of $15,000. City staff estimated it would cost Rains $60,981 to make the two-story, three-bedroom, one-bath home habitable again.
The city transferred ownership of both 623 School St. and 410 Lafayette St. to the Department of Parks, Recreation and Forestry in December 2022 with discussions of transforming the area into either a greenspace or a community garden.
The city has also awarded a contract to Mid-Missouri Earth Movers LLC to demolish the two dangerous buildings, located at 420 Hickory St. and 214 Lafayette St., at a cost of $6,617 and $33,000, respectively.
The next two properties should come down within the next two weeks, according to Dave Helmick, housing and property supervisor.
The city originally planned to include 622 E. McCarty St. as part of the demolitions but sold the property to H&H Global Investments LLC for redevelopment before bids were closed.
Julie Smith/News Tribune
Remnants from last week’s demolition of 410 Lafayette St. are shown Monday as Mark Kuster brings down the structure at 623 School St. Kuster, of Mid-Missouri Earth Movers, had to carefully dismantle the School Street structure due to its proximity to a neighboring house.