Two years ago Nathan Dotson decided to buy and move into his parent’s old Independence home.
He loved the house. He loved the neighborhood. But he did not, and still does not, like the house next door.
“Every six or seven months it seems like we have to call police about the squatters in the building,” he told 41 Action News.
Vacant and boarded up for years, Dotson and others reached out to 41 Action News about the property. They say it is becoming a hotspot for crime, despite the large wooden fence surrounding the home to keep people from breaking in.
“My son’s bus stop is right [there], at the end of the corner of the house,” said mother of two Erin Hubbard, who lives two-doors down. “I want my kids to be able to play out here and not worry that there is someone in there and I want to make sure my son gets home.”
Independence Police tell 41 Action News that officers have responded to the address two times this year for a “buildings check” and “suspicious activity” call.
The city, however, has received more complaint calls. Since summer of 2015, Independence has ticketed the property owner seven times for various code violations.
Calls to the property owner by 41 Action News, who is registered to an address in Herington, Kansas, were unsuccessful.
“It’s one of the worst properties in the city based on the exterior,” said Mike Jackson, assistant director of the city’s Community Development Department.
He also said the home is the perfect example of what the city is trying to do with it’s new code enforcement initiative to make the city cleaner and safer.
RELATED | Independence working to clean up blight and dangerous homes
One component of the initiative is broadening the criteria of a ‘dangerous building’ to include the impact a property has on a neighborhood instead on just the structure itself.
Jackson said the city has been putting together a case against the vacant home and forwarding the case to the dangerous building inspector.
"Frankly I would like for somebody to purchase this home and turn it into a nice little home again. I don’t think it’s beyond being fixed up,” said Dotson.
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Ariel Rothfield can be reached at Ariel.Rothfield@KSHB.com.
