The city has demolished an abandoned and dilapidated parsonage on Barden Street, the most recent such property to be razed on the street in recent months. Many other local homes are scheduled to come before the Council in the next few months with a possibly similar fate.

The Council officially approved an ordinance directing the code enforcement officer to remove, abate or remedy public nuisance properties located at 304 Barden St., the site of a parsonage for Last Day Gospel Fellowship Church.

Planning director Jeff Vreugdenhil said the demolition was already taken care of, and the items removed. The issue was continued from a past Council meeting to allow more time for the homeowners to hire a private demolition service.

Rosa Fryar and Elizabeth Fryar, the owners of the property, were first given a notice to bring the structure to the standards of the Housing Code, a mandate given to them by the code enforcement officer at the end of last year. Rosa Fryar also previously paid the city of Clinton $490 for the costs associated with the title search and asbestos report for the property.

There has been a large code enforcement push citywide in an attempt to prevent and remove “blight” locally, and improve the aesthetics of Clinton, while further ensuring residents’ safety by condemning unsafe and hazardous structures.

In the last year, since August 2008, the City Council has purchased eight run-down properties on Lee, Williams and Barden streets with the goal of redeveloping them and making them more attractive and useful to nearby residents. The city did not purchase the 304 Barden St. property, but has used such condemnation measures to rid the city of eyesores.

The issue concerning 304 Barden St. was continued in June after initially being discussed in April. Vreugdenhil stated that there has been much improvement to this property and asked Council to table the matter, and adoption of any condemnation ordinance, and give the owners more time to work on the property. This month, the Council adopted the ordinance.

City manager John Connet said the Council would likely be confronted with similar condemnation requests from planning officials in the coming weeks and months. There are seven unsafe and nuisance properties that are likely to come before Council for possible condemnation action, the city manager said.

The demolition of each of the properties will cost the city approximately $7,500, some of which is recouped from property owners. However, some of the money is not collected until the sale or foreclosure of the property.

In addition to 304 Barden St., Connet said six other structures are facing condemnation:

• 85 Faison Highway, 220 Moye St. and 624 Lisbon St., all of which will see 60 days notice expire in August.

• 1000 Sampson St., which police Chief Mike Brim brought to planning officials’ attention. No condemnation process has begun yet.

• 506 and 508 Williams St. A hearing has been held, and 60 days notice is pending.

Average removal cost is $7,500 per structure, bringing the projected total budget for removal of all the structures to $52,500.

Chris Berendt can be reached at 910-592-8137, ext. 121, or by e-mail at sicrime@myclintonnc.com.