In March, we had a rousing discussion of half-finished remodeling projects — starting with this house in Point Loma. In a subsequent post, we explored what the city’s response can be on similar issues.
The city’s development department official in charge of building permits, Afsaneh Ahmadi, said back thenif the house “just looks ugly, we can’t do anything about it.”
But when a project is vacant, unsecured or becomes a public nuisance, the city can get involved.
I heard about a great example of one of those public nuisance properties. Yesterday, City Attorney Jan Goldsmith announced the results of a prosecution against the owners of a home in Encanto, at 6295 Scimitar Drive, which had been a “severe longstanding nuisance to the surrounding neighborhood.”
The owners, Ronald and Antonia Ramirez, were sentenced to 375 days in jail and court fines of $14,750. They can avoid or reduce both by either demolishing the house and removing all of the debris, or completely finishing the rehab.
More about the property from the City Attorney’s Office:
The owners had abandoned the remodel project of a single family home, which had become a harborage for rats. The resulting eyesore included an abundance of debris, miscellaneous storage, unpermitted construction, and encroachments in the public right-of-way. …
Aggressive criminal action was taken after community members reported that they had been affected by the nuisance property for approximately four years. …
Charges alleged in the criminal complaint included harboring vermin, failure to obtain needed permits for electrical and plumbing work, the debris left on the lot, and maintaining unpermitted construction and encroachments in the public right-of-way.
You can catch a glimpse of the property here:
— KELLY BENNETT