MINOT, N.D. (AP) - The Minot City Council has directed city staff to organize a plan to clean up properties that have been neglected or abandoned in the wake of the devastating 2011 Souris River flood.
Council members also have dedicated $74,000 in sales tax money to immediately clean up the worst of the properties, with plans to try to recoup the money later from property owners.
The moves this week came after a community group submitted petitions with more than 1,000 signatures asking the city to do something about the so-called “zombie homes,” which they say are a health and safety issue.
The Souris River overflowed and swamped more than 4,000 homes, businesses and other structures in Minot in June 2011 following heavy spring snowmelt and rain. Boarded-up, mold-ridden and debris-infested properties still dot the city three years later.
“It’s not saying, ’Bulldoze the homes.’ It’s not saying, ’Cut everything down,’” organizer Lianne Zeltinger said of the petitions. “It’s saying, ’Clean up the debris.’ The people who have moved in next door to these homes that are open with raccoons and bats and dead animals, personal possessions, food from 2011, want it cleaned up. And I don’t blame them.”
Residents say they have concerns about mold smells, drug activity and squatters in abandoned houses. Dan Meschke said three properties in his neighborhood have open basements.
“Somebody is going to get hurt,” he said.
The City Council also has directed City Finance Director Cindy Hemphill to look for other funding sources for the cleanup effort.
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