Excerpts from the Pantagraph.com:
The owner and owner-to-be of several apartment buildings in Bloomington face almost 800 pretty significant code violations, including 226 at a building destroyed by fire Feb. 10, city records show.
The city already had sought a demolition order for 1101 Gettysburg Drive because the roof kept caving in. The city also has 572 citations pending against owner Wayne Pelhank and contract-for-deed purchaser Ed Duran for five rental properties in the 900 blocks of West Front and West Grove streets. The various cases are filed in circuit court and the city’s administrative court.
In the demolition request filed Dec. 15 in circuit court, the city said the building was structurally unsound and had significant roof leaks and water-logged ceilings, walls and carpeting.
A firefighter was injured in the Gettysburg fire and 29 people were left homeless. A cause of the fire has not been determined. The 12-unit, two-story building was built in the 1970s.
According to city records, code inspectors completed an initial inspection of 1101 Gettysburg Drive on Sept. 6 and found 262 violations. Pelhank was given until Nov. 28 to correct them, but the compliance date was extended after neither he nor a representative showed up Nov. 28.
About eight violations had been fixed when a city inspector re-inspected the property on Dec. 18 and Pelhank was given a final extension to complete repairs. At the Jan. 30 re-inspection, the inspector noted 226 violations that included smoke alarm problems, missing doors, windows that wouldn’t open, improperly installed doorknobs, damage from water leaks, and cockroaches. Various violations were found in all 12 apartments.
