Five vacant Hutchinson houses faced condemnation hearing as city moves on $218,615 demolition

Five long-vacant Hutchinson houses, two of them tax-delinquent since as far back as 2022, were set for a condemnation hearing Tuesday, Aug. 18, that could clear the way for city-ordered demolition. The City Council agenda listed the properties as 102 W. 9th Ave., 300 E. Avenue E, 315 1/2 N. Cleveland St., 615 E. Avenue A and 1109 N. Elm St., followed by a resolution condemning the same five addresses. Building Official Jason Lady's staff report for the meeting gives the second property as 300 E. Avenue F and drops the "N" from the Cleveland Street address.

Lady's report says the Building & Neighborhood Services Department inspected the houses and found them unsafe and dangerous under Chapter 21, Article VII of the city code, citing structural deterioration, roof or wall instability, open or unsecured access points and violations related to health and habitability. It also says notices of the hearing were sent to each owner by certified mail. "These buildings have been deteriorating for several years and are in severe disrepair," Lady wrote in the report's analysis section.

The report documents the condition of only two of the five. The house at 102 W. 9th Ave., owned by 901 Washington LLC, has been vacant since a structure fire in 2024, boarded up since 2024 and without active utilities since before 2024. A whole-home remodel permit for the property expired July 2, 2025, with no inspections. The city has logged four property maintenance cases there since 2020, including an open case since June 23, 2025, and 2025 property taxes are delinquent.

At 300 E. Avenue F, owned by Robert E. and Jimmy L. Hunsinger with an equitable interest held by the estate of Amos Hall, deceased, staff removed an individual from the house on May 14, 2026, and boarded it the same day. The report lists 12 property maintenance cases since 2018, no utilities or occupancy since 2022, taxes delinquent since 2022 and the certified hearing letter returned undelivered. Lady wrote that staff has tried to reach both owners and has had no response.

A separate teardown is further along. Lady told the council at its Aug. 4 meeting that five bids came in on the condemnation demolition at 211 E. Fourth Ave., ranging from a low of $218,615 to a high of $439,200. He said Miller Earth Works, which did some work on the Atrium demolition project, was the winning contractor. He said the money is coming from demolition funds currently in the budget and the work is a bonded project. The Aug. 4 minutes record the item as an update under new business, with no motion, second or vote tally listed. The entry ends with the name of Council Member Stacy Goss and no further text.

On the five houses, Lady's report states that no additional financial obligations are anticipated from the proposed demolitions and that funds appropriated in the FY26 demolition budget are sufficient to cover the costs. It gives no balance for that budget and no count of how many unsafe or dangerous structures remain on the city's list.

The Aug. 18 agenda also carried an ordinance authorizing the issuance of general obligation bonds to pay the cost of demolishing an unsafe or dangerous structure, naming neither an address nor a dollar amount. Prior coverage of Hutchinson condemnation proceedings indicates the city has an established demolition process and budget and sometimes issues bonds for larger projects, later assessing the costs to property owners as tax liens.

The hearing was set by Resolution 2026R23, which the council adopted at its July 7 regular meeting — the session Citizen Journal previewed July 6, when abandoned homes shared the agenda with the council's revenue-neutral-rate question. Lady's report ties the condemnations to the Comprehensive Plan's Strategic Objective 4, investing in gateways to the community and neighborhoods south of 17th Street, and to priorities identified in the Reno County Housing Needs Assessment.

Neither the agenda nor the staff report shows what the council decided on the condemnation resolution at the 5:30 p.m. meeting in council chambers. The council's next regular meeting is 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 1.

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