Group seeks demolition

The buildings seem structurally sound, the mayor says.
CORTLAND -- Council has been asked to determine if anything can be done about a deteriorating downtown landmark, which neighbors say is a fire trap and harbors rats.
The old Shaffer Feed Store also has several underground fuel storage tanks and 55-gallon drums labeled as insecticide, raising both environmental concerns and the likely cost of cleaning the site, said Mayor Curt Moll.
Options for city officials could include having the site declared a brownfield, to make government cleanup funds available, Moll said. He said the total tab for demolishing the buildings and removing tanks could be in excess of $300,000, far more than the properties are worth.
Thursday, the city zoning board voted to forward to city hall a petition from 20 city residents calling for the feed store and grain elevator and two outbuildings to be demolished. Their concerns did not fall under the zoning board's jurisdiction, said Donald Whittman, safety services director.
The Mecca Street feed store has been shuttered for years, said neighbor Marlene Rufener.
"It is a tremendous eyesore," said Rufener, who circulated the petition. "Since it was a grain place, there has got to be rats and rodents in it."
The buildings are owned by Elizabeth Shaffer and property tax bills are mailed to a Lattin Street address, county records show. Taxes on the property have been kept current.
The Trumbull County Health Department inspected the property this fall. From peering through windows, sanitarian Loretta Ecklund concluded that there was some damage to the main building and a barn. But she said it would take an engineer to determine if the buildings are safe.
If the two building were residences, Ecklund said she would have asked the board of health to consider declaring them unfit for habitation, a step that would pave the way for demolition by the city. Because they were commercial structures, she said she recommended neighbors take their complaints to the fire department or building department.
The Cortland Fire Department has also inspected the properties, Moll said.
"There was a piece of it that fell in a few years ago, but the rest of it seems sound," he said.
There is evidence of break-ins at the buildings and neighbors say the feed store harbors a huge number of bats, he said.
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