City Council considers possible plan to demolish derelict Pine Tree Plaza

The Troy City Council is considering an arrangement to remove the former Pine Tree Plaza building on Highway 2, which has been sitting mostly empty since a 2013 fire gutted the structure.

Mayor Dallas Carr presented the subject to the Council at their Wednesday, March 21 meeting.

In a phone interview the next day, Carr clarified how the arrangement would work.

The current owner is Charles Curtis, who entered into an arrangement to purchase the land from the former owners before the fire.

Curtis was living in one of the apartments in the building at the time of the fire, which displaced six families, according to a March, 2017 Western News article.

Since that time, Curtis has fallen behind on property taxes and is still making payments to the original owner, Carr said. Though he has finally managed to get an EPA inspection — previously one of the things standing in the way of demolition — his failing health has added difficulty to him doing work on the building.

In 2017, Curtis was still talking about trying to refurbish and rebuild. On Wednesday, he told the Council he is ready to tear the building down.

However, Curtis said he does not have the means to do so himself.

City Clerk/Treasurer Tracy Rebo said that the Council had sought bids for tearing the building down not long after the fire.

Estimates ranged from $42,000 to $60,000. Though those estimates included the EPA inspections that have now been done, the largest portion of the cost was hauling away and disposing of the demolished building.

If the city did the demolition itself, any cost would have to be paid out of the general fund, she said. In comparison, a recent roof replacement at City Hall that cost $44,000 was only able to be done by using multiple funds, with about a quarter of the cost coming from the general fund.

By phone the next day, Carr said he thought of involving Town Pump when he considered they would have heavy equipment in the town if they went forward with an expansion of their Troy location.

He approached Town Pump and asked if they would take care of the entire demolition and hauling away of Pine Tree Plaza if and when they had crews and machinery in the area.

Town Pump agreed, Carr said. They would receive nothing in return for the effort except potentially building good will with the community.

Town Pump tearing down and hauling away the building would not be directly tied to any expansion, aside from that it would be related to them having crews and equipment in Troy, he said by phone.

Several audience members raised concerns over whether the arrangement was the city trading the demolition work for the south end of Second Street where it meets Highway 2.

Town Pump concerns

In a controversial expansion plan, Town Pump has asked the city to allow them to extend their store out into the middle of Second Street while making that section of the street part of their parking lot.

Town Pump would continue to allow traffic to pass through between Second Street and Highway 2, Dan Sampson, a construction development manager with Town Pump and the project manager, told an informational meeting in February. However, they would install some form of traffic control such as speed bumps.

All of the pumps would be located on what is now the east side of Second Street, according to a draft plan that Simpson brought to the February meeting.

Concerns over such an expansion resurfaced at the Wednesday meeting, including increased traffic on First Street and whether the city has the legal right to hand over a portion of the street.

Carr said on Wednesday that Town Pump is willing to work with community concerns, such as by shutting down for the July 4th parade so the traditional parade route is not obstructed.

Careen Cratty was one of several community members Wednesday who expressed disapproval of selling a portion of a city street, though not of a Town Pump expansion.

“I’m all for a bigger, better Town Pump. I want to see Troy grow, as a business owner and a lifetime resident,” she said. “But, I just am not for seeing Second Street being closed.”

Ron Pierce, a former member of the Council, also presented them with documentation regarding the 1896 dedication of the street to public use. Pierce said he wasn’t sure if, due to the manner in which the street was dedicated, the city had the legal right to sell the street.

Carr said the Council would ask the city’s lawyer, Cliff Hayden, look into the question.

Making arrangements

Reached by phone Thursday, Carr said that it would not be a trade arrangement if Town Pump tears down and hauls away the Pine Tree Plaza building.

If the city does allow Town Pump to incorporate the south end of Second Street into their property, the portion of the street would be sold to Town Pump, he said. However, no sum has been discussed yet or agreements reached.

Anything else — such as the demolition of Pine Tree Plaza or the sidewalks along Second Street and Spokane Avenue — would be undertaken by Town Pump for community benefit separate from the sale price, he said.

Some of the debate centered around a requirement proposed by Carr that Curtis give a portion of his property to the city approximately the same size as the area of Second Street that the city is proposing to sell to Town Pump.

Carr said that the purpose of Curtis giving a portion of his land to the city is to justify the city’s work arranging the effort, and so that Curtis does take on some burden of cost.

However, while the city would benefit through the land transfer, it would not be providing benefit to Town Pump as a result, Carr said.

Carr said Wednesday that there was no plan for what the city would do with the piece of land.

Carr said that his motivation was to see an eye sore removed, while also helping out a community member who is buried in past-due taxes.

Council President Crystal Denton said that Curtis has shown good faith interest in improving the property by the work he did in the past when he was prevented from working on the building itself by state and federal regulations.

At the end of the discussion, the council agreed to table the matter while Carr gathers more information and discusses with Curtis questions about the size of the property section to be given to the city.

The vote was to revisit the proposal in a special meeting, to be called either at the Council’s next work session on Wednesday, April 11 at 6:30 p.m., or to be announced for an earlier date if Carr is able to finish gathering information before that time.