Mount Airy officials have identified hazardous street conditions at the site where a building was gutted by fire last June and its remnants recently were demolished.
The property is located at 207 E. Oak St. near The Mount Airy News and is owned by an entity known as Araneum, a limited-liability company that lists local businessman Tom Webb as its president.
Webb is involved in a number of ventures with his son Ben, including operations at Old North State Winery downtown and the nearby site on East Oak where distribution and other functions were eyed until the structure there burned. Built in 1946, it was known as “the old rope factory.”
And problems are lingering at that location long after the flames were extinguished, as evidenced by a Feb. 5 letter from City Attorney Hugh Campbell to Tom Webb with the heading “Notice of dangerous condition.”
Campbell referred to the lines of the Araneum property running with the edge of both Oak and Trinity streets where the attorney says problems have resulted from “alleged negligence” by Webb, as identified by city engineering personnel.
“You have created two conditions prejudicial to the public safety and welfare,” Campbell’s letter continues.
“By removing a retaining wall, you or your contractor exposed the roadbed beneath Trinity Street and the sidewalk along Oak Street,” it explains.
“The gap is as wide as three feet along the lateral roadbed for a distance of approximately 140 feet. In the view of the city engineers, this opening could undermine the structural integrity of the street and sidewalk as the destabilized dirt erodes.”
A particular concern is a power pole located in the sidewalk. “The city cannot allow the sidewalk to buckle and the asphalt street to crumble away where the lateral support has been withdrawn,” the attorney states in the letter.
The second problem cited stems from the recent removal of the burned-out building, which has exposed a basement and foundation walls immediately adjacent to Trinity Street and the sidewalk along Oak Street.
This is compromising safety, according to Campbell’s letter.
“The city has been forced to deploy temporary safety measures, including closing the sidewalk and portions of Trinity Street,” he wrote.
“It is your (Webb’s) responsibility to construct appropriate barriers on your property to protect pedestrians and vehicular traffic from the dangerous condition now existing on your property.”
Campbell further advised Webb that if the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners determines that a public health nuisance exists by reason of the conditions specified, state law allows the city government to enter the property and take “necessary corrective action.”
The cost of this would be assessed to the person in default and if not paid, could become a lien on the property in question or other property owned by that individual except for a primary residence.
Campbell says that under state law, a landowner who makes excavations and removes lateral support from adjacent land burdened by improvements can be held liable for negligence when failing to notify the owner of adjoining property of the excavation. That allows the neighbor to take self-protective measures.
Liability can be imposed on the landowner even if the work is performed by an independent contractor, according to Campbell.
“I urge you to take immediate steps to address this situation in order to avoid remedial action by the city,” the attorney told Webb.
Repairs promised
In response to Campbell, Ben Webb emailed the attorney, saying he was “extremely disappointed that the city of Mount Airy deemed it necessary to send a letter claiming alleged negligence on my behalf,” even though it was addressed to his father.
Webb contended that the holdup has been the city government and not Araneum, LLC.
“I provided the city with several options and was waiting for direction while under the impression we were working together on a solution,” Webb wrote Campbell. “It is apparent the lack of respect by our local government to take these steps.”
The city attorney mentioned that in follow-up communications with Ben Webb, the latter seemed “more than willing” to make the necessary repairs at the site.
“I think they started working the next day,” Campbell said Thursday.
Among the options specified is the building of concrete stabilizing walls along Trinity and Oak streets, fencing and guard railing.
The city attorney added Thursday that he thinks the matter is now headed in a good direction.
Street concerns
Other city officials also weighed in on the issue Thursday, including Commissioner Jim Armbrister.
His first priority is safety and a secondary concern is making sure Trinity Street can be fully used by motorists and for parking as it has in the past, limiting the inconvenience to the public as much as possible.
“And that’s based on citizen complaints,” Armbrister said of removing a thruway that people were accustomed to using but has been closed on occasion recently.
He also defended the handling of the matter by municipal staff members, including the letter sent by Campbell to Tom Webb which Armbrister called “basically a routine procedure” that addresses potential liability or other problems to the municipality.
“My goals were simply to put his company on notice, per the recommendation from our insurance carrier, and delineate financial responsibilities because the city cannot contribute public money toward shoring up his side of the property line,” Campbell explained.
“I understand that a ‘lawyer letter’ is unsettling.”
Mayor David Rowe indicated Thursday that he would like to see the repairs proceed in a more expedient manner.
The city attorney acknowledged that part of the problem could be due to a “misunderstanding” between city staff members and the Webbs.
Ben Webb said in late December there were no plans at present for the vacant site of the burned building.
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Trinity Street in downtown Mount Airy is shown Thursday afternoon, located alongside the site where a building burned last June. Demolition work occurring there since has posed a threat to public safety and welfare, according to the city attorney.
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