RESOLUTION NUMBER 24-8244
A RESOLUTION MAKING CERTAIN FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS BASED UPON A SHOW CAUSE HEARING RELATING TO THE DANGEROUS STRUCTURE LOCATED AT 1616 WEST CRAWFORD STREET, SALINA, KANSAS, AND DETERMINING THAT THE CITY SHALL CAUSE THE STRUCTURE TO BE RAZED AND REMOVED AND RECOVER THE COST OF SUCH WORK IN THE MANNER PROVIDED UNDER K.S.A. 12-1755.
WHEREAS:
A. The Governing Body of the City of Salina, Kansas (the “City”) on July 22, 2024, adopted Resolution Number 24-8220 (the “Resolution”) determining the commercial structure located on the following described real estate located in the City of Salina, Saline County, Kansas, and addressed as 1616 W. Crawford Avenue (the “Premises”) owned by Andrea Investments, LLC, a Kansas limited liability company, (the “Owner”) to be dangerous (the “Dangerous Structure”):
LEGAL DESCRIPTION:
Tract 1
Lots 1, 2, 3 and 4, less the West 150.00 feet of Lot 4, Block 1, C K S Addition to the City of Salina, Saline County, Kansas, Plat Book A7, page 10.
Tract 2
All of that part of the West 150.00 feet of Lot 4, Block 1, lying North of the existing concrete slab in C K S Addition to the City of Salina, Saline County, Kansas, Plat Book A7, page 10, which is more particularly described as follows:
BEGINNING at the Northwest corner of said Lot 5; thence South 00 degrees 42 minutes 49 seconds West, a distance of 169.81 feet; Thence North 89 degrees 59 minutes 09 seconds East, a distance of 150.00 feet, Thence North 00 degrees 42 minutes 49 seconds East, a distance of 169.77 feet; Thence South 90 degrees 00 minutes 00 seconds West a distance of 150 feet back to the point of beginning.
Metes and Bounds Description:
The above-described tracts of land are more particularly described as follows:
Beginning at the Southeast corner of Lot One (1), Block One (1) C.K.S. Addition to the City of Salina, Saline County, Kansas; thence N00°42’49”E along the East line of said Lot One (1) and Lot Three (3) a distance of Five Hundred Fifty (550) feet; thence N90°00’00”W along the North line of C.K.S. Addition a distance of Six Hundred (600) feet to the Northwest corner of Lot Four (4); thence S00°42’49”W a distance of One Hundred Sixty-Nine and Eighty-One Hundredths (169.81) feet; thence N89°59’09”E a distance of One Hundred Fifty (150) feet; thence S00°42’49”W a distance of Three Hundred Eighty and Nineteen Hundredths (380.19) feet to the North right of way line of Crawford Avenue; thence N90°00’00”E along said North right-of-way line a distance of Four Hundred Fifty (450) Feet back to the point of beginning.
TYPE OF BUILDING: Commercial structure with no accessory structures;
B. The Resolution further outlined a series of deadlines, depending upon whether the Owner elected to either make the Premises safe and secure by performing the Demolition Work or the Repair Work as defined in the Resolution, and provided for the scheduling of a show cause hearing in the event the building official determined that the Owner failed to comply with any of the requirements or orders set forth in the Resolution.
C. Pursuant to section 5 of the Resolution, the Building Official requested and the City Manager placed on the agenda for the October 14, 2024, regular meeting of the Governing Body of the City, a show cause hearing by the Governing Body at 4:00 P.M. on Monday, October 14, 2024, in the City Commission Meeting Room, Room 107, City-County Building, 300 West Ash Street, Salina, Kansas, (the “Show Cause Hearing”) at which time the Owner must appear and show cause as to why the Governing Body should not proceed to cause the Structure to be repaired or razed and removed and the cost of such work recovered by the City in the manner provided under K.S.A. 12-1755 for the reason that the Owner has failed to either:
- In compliance with Section 3.(1) of the Resolution: “The Owner shall immediately commence and diligently pursue (a) engagement of any necessary consultants and/or contractors; and (b) the preparation and submission of complete and accurate applications by the Owner or its consultants and/or contractors to the City for the required permits for the Demolition Work which are suitable for acceptance and review by the building official no later than August 21, 2024.” or
- In compliance with Section 4.(1) of the Resolution: “The Owner shall immediately commence and diligently pursue (a) engagement of any necessary consultants and/or contractors; and (b) the preparation and submission of complete and accurate applications by the Owner or its consultants and/or contractors to the City for the required permits for the Repair Work which are suitable for acceptance and review by the building official no later than September 20, 2024.
D. In accordance with Section 5 of the Resolution, the Building Official caused notice of the Show Cause Hearing to be mailed by USPS certified mail on September 26, 2024, to the following interested parties (the “Interested Parties”):
Andrea Investments, LLC, Attn. Joshua Joseph, 6925 Valley View Lane, Dallas, TX 75240 (the “Owner”)
Herring Bank, Attn. President or Officer in Charge, 2201 Civic Cir., Amarillo, TX 79109
Great Plains National Bank a/k/a Great Plains Bank, Attn. Jeff Waters, P.O. Box 488, Elk City, OK 73648
Saline County, Kansas, Attn. County Clerk, 300 W. Ash St., Salina, KS 67401;
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Governing Body of the City of Salina, Kansas:
Section 1. Findings. The Governing Body finds that:
- Proper and timely USPS certified mailed Notice of the Show Cause Hearing was provided to the Interested parties in accordance with Section 5 of the Resolution.
- The Show Cause hearing was opened during the October 14, 2024, regular meeting of the City’s Governing Body at the appointed time and place as stated on the mailed Notice of Show Cause Hearing. Mr. Joshua Joseph, a member of the Owner, Andrea Investments, LLC, appeared as the Owner’s representative along with the Owner’s architect, Mr. Fred Gatela.
- City staff presented relevant information regarding (i) plans, drawings, and documents presented to the City by the Owner and/or the Owner’s representatives and (ii) discussions had among the Owner and/or representatives of the Owner and City staff since adoption of the Resolution.
Prior to the Commencement of the Show Cause Hearing
- On July 22, 2024, the Owner’s demolition contractor applied to the City for a permit to demolish the Dangerous Structure; the permit was processed and prepared for issuance but was not paid for and never issued.
- On September 18, 2024, the Owner and the Owner’s architect met with the City Development Review team and indicated a desire to repair the Structure based upon preliminary concept drawings; however, the requirement under Section 4.(1) of the Resolution for “(a) engagement of any necessary consultants and/or contractors; and (b) the preparation and submission of complete and accurate applications by the Owner or its consultants and/or contractors to the City for the required permits for the Repair Work which are suitable for acceptance and review by the building official no later than September 20, 2024” was neither met by the Owner by the stated deadline of September 20, 2024, nor as of the October 14, 2024, commencement of the Show Cause Hearing.
- The City Manager participated in numerous conversations and text exchanges with the Owner since adoption of the Resolution regarding both the prospect of demolition or repair of the Dangerous Structure based upon only concept drawings, during all of which the City Manager consistently emphasized to the Owner the controlling deadlines established by the Governing Body and set forth in the Resolution and the necessity of a show cause hearing before the Governing Body in the event the applicable deadlines were not met.
- The Owner neither complied with either Section 3.(1) or Section 4.(1) of the Resolution as of the respective deadlines set forth in those sections of the Resolution nor as of the October 14, 2024, commencement of the Show Cause Hearing.
During the October 14, 2024, Segment of the Show Cause Hearing
- Mr. Joseph expressed that he felt the timeline they had been given was insufficient to plan for the needed repairs and explained that he brought his design architect with him to the meeting,
- Mr. Joseph represented to the Governing Body that: ”I have secured a $3,000,000 financing from Frontier State Bank of Oklahoma City for the project. I had to put a $1,000,000 CD to get the $3,000,000 and if this plan is approved, I would like to bring it forth.”
- Mr. Gatela shared the details of the Owner’s anticipated plan, which would involve splitting the property into two buildings divided between storage, retail and commercial space, and indoor recreation.
- In response to Mayor Longbine’s question: “Can you submit a letter of support and confirmation from your lender?” Mr. Joseph represented: “Yes, I can send that to you first thing tomorrow morning, because I have already, they already drafted the letter and they were supposed to send it to me to be presented here but I was looking at my email and haven’t got it yet but I can send you that tomorrow for sure.”
- In reliance upon Mr. Joseph’s representations, the Governing Body unanimously approved a motion to: “Postpone consideration of Resolution No. 24-8244 by continuing the public hearing until October 28, 2024, and directing staff to pursue a development agreement as to the redevelopment of 1616 West Crawford, providing that Andrea Investments, LLC produces an acceptable loan commitment letter specific to the proposed redevelopment and delivered to the City Manager’s Office by 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 15, 2024.”
After the October 14, 2024, Segment of the Show Cause Hearing and Prior to the October 28, 2024, Resumption of the Show Cause Hearing
- On October 15, 2024, a letter dated October 15, 2024, was received in the City Manager’s Office from Chris Wyne, Vice President of Frontier State Bank, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, stating, in part, that: “This letter is to inform you that Mr. Joshua Joseph (Owner/Manager) of DFW Joseph Investments LLC has a $1MM RLOC with a current balance of zero. This RLOC is secured by a CD and funds can be available at a short notice to fund the financing for the change of use from hotel to retail & storage facility in Salina KS. Furthermore, I am currently working on a second request for Mr. Jsoeph in the amount of a $2MM loan. This loan request is to fund the completion of the above project in Salina KS.”
- After Mr. Joseph was informed by the City Manager that the October 15, 2024, letter from Frontier State Bank was not compliant with the condition imposed by the Governing Body, a subsequent letter dated October 17, 2024, was received from Mr. Wyne of Frontier State Bank stating, in part, that: “This letter is to inform you that Mr. Joshua Joseph (Owner/Manager) of DFW Joseph Investments LLC and OKC Downtown Joseph Investments LLC has a $3MM in funds available to fund the financing for the change in use from hotel to retail & storage facility in Salina KS.”
- By letter from the City Manager dated October 21, 2024, and emailed to Mr. Joseph on the morning of October 21, 2024, Mr. Joseph was informed by the City Manager that: “While I appreciate Mr. Wyne’s efforts to assure the City of Salina that you have ‘funds available to fund the financing,’ the letter, in my opinion and in the opinion of the City’s legal counsel, does not satisfy the express condition imposed by the City Commission – namely, that you provide proof of your lender’s binding commitment to lend you or your entity the sum of $3,000,000 for purposes of funding the repair and redevelopment project.” The letter further stated, in part: “While I cannot speak to the City Commission’s position on this matter nor can I waive or extend the deadline they imposed, I encourage you to furnish my office with an actual loan commitment at your earliest convenience, and prior to the resumption of the show cause hearing on October 28, 2024.
- Despite the Owner’s representations to the Governing Body regarding his pre-arranged financing of the proposed project made during the October 14, 2024, segment of the Show Cause Hearing, the Owner did not provide the required “acceptable loan commitment letter specific to the proposed redevelopment and delivered to the City Manager’s Office by the 5:00 p.m., Tuesday, October 15, 2024, deadline and, further, had not provided such a loan commitment letter as of resumption of the Show Cause Hearing on October 28, 2024.
During the October 28, 2024, Segment of the Continued Show Cause Hearing
- The continued Show Cause Hearing was resumed during the October 28, 2024, regular meeting of the City’s Governing Body. Mr. Joseph appeared as the Owner’s representative.
- Mr. Joseph did not deny that the letters provided by Frontier State Bank did not meet the condition imposed by the Governing Body as the basis for pursuing discussion of a potential development agreement.
Section 2. Conclusions. Based upon the totality of the information presented to the Governing Body during the Show Cause Hearing, the Governing Body concludes that:
- The Owner has not shown cause as to why the Governing Body should not proceed to cause the Structure to be razed and removed; and
- The Governing Body orders and directs that the City proceed to cause the Dangerous Structure to be razed and removed and the cost of such work recovered by the City in the manner provided under K.S.A. 12-1755.
Section 3. Publication, mailing, and recording. The City Clerk shall (a) publish this resolution one (1) time in the official city newspaper; (b) shall mail, by certified mail, copies of the resolution to each Owner, agent, lienholder of record and any occupant of the Structure within three (3) days after its publication; and (c) file this resolution for recording in the office of the Saline County Register of Deeds.
Section 4. Final Order. This resolution constitutes a final order of the Governing Body in relation to its determination that the City shall proceed to cause the Dangerous Structure to be razed and removed and the cost of such work recovered by the City in the manner provided under K.S.A. 12-1755.
Adopted by the Board of Commissioners this 28th day of October, 2024.
Bill Longbine, Mayor
ATTEST:
Jenifer Scheibler, Deputy City Clerk