By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
The property owner plans to demolish the house soon, but the Great Bend
City Council went ahead Monday night during a public hearing to approve a
resolution finding the structure at 814 Monroe Street unsafe and dangerous.
The property owner returned from Texas to find out the property was condemned
and also rezoned. The city council scheduled the public hearing in May.
Great Bend Building Official Logan Burns said a new zoning map for the city was
released in 2004, and the property, just a couple blocks away from 10th
Street was rezoned to commercial.
"To the end of the that block all the way up to 10th Street, all that area is zoned C-2 (commercial) now," said Burns. "It's zoned R-3 (residential) was you get closer to Washington. All that area, for the reason of expanding the commercial businesses, has been zoned to C-2."
The house would be “grandfathered” in for the commercial zone if it was in good
standing as a nonconforming structure in a commercial zone. Now that the house
needs to be demolished, the property would have to rezoned to residential if the
owner wants to build a new house.
Many of the sides of the structure at 814 Monroe have begun to settle. Windows
are broken out, the foundation has cracks, siding is deteriorated and the roof
is damaged.
The owner plans to raze the structure this week.