Conflicting interests keep lots vacant
TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
A vacant city-owned lot on the southeast corner of Third and Main streets downtown has been roped off for nearly seven years after a windstorm damaged a mural attached to the west wall of a neighboring two-story building. The structurally unsound building, which is under a municipal repair-or-demolish order, is at the center of a dispute between the city and its owners, meaning that the empty lot, which officials fear could pose a danger to pedestrians because of falling debris, can’t be developed until the issue is resolved.
Even as groups like the Maryville Downtown Improvement Organization, Nodaway County Economic Development and the Greater Maryville Chamber of Commerce push for funding and programs to revitalize the courthouse square and the rest of the central business district, two of the area’s most visible problem locations remain, well, problematic.
Vacant lots on the southwest and southeast corners of Third and Main would appear to be prime targets for beautification, redevelopment or even just some simple landscaping, but the reluctance of landowners to part with their property on one hand and possible legal issues regarding an adjacent building on the other have kept improvements at bay.
A lot on the west side of Main has been empty since fire destroyed two commercial buildings and several upper-story apartments there in Aug. 2011. Across the street, a small gravel-and-dirt strip lies roped off beneath a large mural damaged during a windstorm in July 2010.
Painted in 2004 by north Missouri artist Kelly Poling, who was commissioned by the Maryville Citizens for Community Action, the mural is attached to the side of a storefront at 104 E. Third St., a structure now tagged by the city as unsafe and under a repair-or-demolish order ratified by the municipal Board of Code Appeals in Sept. 2016.
The vacant lot itself was once the site of the Nagle Building, which housed a bank and several subsequent enterprises before being condemned and demolished in 1999.
As plans for the mural began taking shape, the city signed an agreement with the former owner of the now-tagged structure, Lewis G. Moore, holding the city harmless for any damage caused by the razing of the Nagle Building, with which Moore’s storefront shared a wall.
The agreement, signed in 1999, gave the city access to the Moore building’s west wall, where the mural was installed, so that the painting — a downtown scene studded with local notables like novelist Homer Croy — could be maintained.
However the access period was capped at 10 years and has expired. Also, the Moore property has changed hands and is currently owned by Kam Wong, who also controls several other properties in the downtown area.
City Manager Greg McDanel said last week that since the access agreement is no longer in force, the city lacks standing to repair the mural or remove it.
Because the painting is possibly unstable — the image is badly cracked and a couple of missing sections have been plastered over — the city fears the lot below could be struck by falling debris and has roped it off.
In addition the west wall of the building to which the mural is attached is itself degraded, and City Hall and the Wong family are reportedly at odds over whether the structure was damaged when the Nagle Building was demolished and, if so, the extent of the city’s culpability.
While McDanel declined to address specifics, he did say legal action in the matter was a possibility.
The upshot is that until the building is rehabilitated or torn down by the owner, or acquired by the city, nothing much can be done about either the painting or the vacant lot.
On the west side of Main Street, the situation likewise reflects tension between public and private interests.
There, what looks like one fairly large vacant lot is actually two smaller parcels, the southernmost of which was purchased from Wong in 2015 for $18,000 by a group of local businesspeople on behalf of the Community Foundation of Northwest Missouri.
The foundation handed the land over to Nodaway County Economic Development who plans on deeding it to the Maryville Downtown Improvement Organization. That transfer hasn’t happened yet, according to MDIO President Matt Gaarder, because the downtown booster group still needs to acquire liability insurance.
NCED is also trying to acquire the larger, northern portion of the vacant lot from owners Michael and Sue Burch and intends to give that land to MDIO as well. However, negotiations with the Burches are ongoing, as are efforts by MDIO to raise enough money to cover the purchase price.
If it can acquire the property — and, again, raise the necessary funds — MDIO wants to create a landscaped “pocket park” on the combined parcel as called for in the city’s comprehensive plan.
TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
Vacant since a fire destroyed two commercial buildings and several upper-story apartments in Aug. 2011, the adjoining downtown lots pictured here are the proposed site of a downtown “pocket park” sought by the Maryville Downtown Improvement Organization. Nodaway County Economic Development has acquired a portion of the property and stands ready to deed it over to MDIO if the organization can raise enough money to cover the purchase price and insurance. The second lot to the south is still owned privately and negotiations for its acquisition by NCED are ongoing.
