Public invited to weigh in on ‘The Ruins’ condemnation
Published 12:00 pm Monday, February 20, 2023
- File / The Meridian StarThe Meridian City Council will hold a public hearing Tuesday to allow the public to weigh in on condemning The Ruins. The hearing will be held at 5:15 p.m. in the third floor audtorium at city hall.
CORRECTION: This story has been corrected to show Community Development Director Craig Hitt spoke to the city council in May 2022.
Meridian residents will have an opportunity to make their views known as the city council is set to hold a public hearing on condemning the event venue “The Ruins.”
The hearing, which is set for 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, is the city’s next step in addressing safety issues with the historic E.F. Young Jr. Hotel and reopening 25th Avenue. The road, between 5th and 6th streets, has been closed since September 2021 out of concern the hotel may collapse.
While both the city council and Young family are ready to move forward with demolishing the hotel, the project has been held up as the parties involved work to address The Ruins next door. The venue has been closed for more than a year since it cannot be accessed until the street is back open.
City inspectors are concerned The Ruins is not structurally sound enough to stand on its own once the Young Hotel is demolished. Community Development Director Craig Hitt told the council in May 2022 that the structure was not up to code, and it was not immediately clear whether or not it could be brought into code.
The city’s code enforcement personnel and council members had previously encouraged business owner James Copeland to bring in a structural engineer to assess The Ruins’ stability and provide a recommendation of any work that is needed.
City Attorney Will Simmons advised the council in January that the city was not responsible for what may or may not happen to The Ruins when the Young Hotel is demolished. It is the landowner’s responsibility to make sure their property is maintained, he said.
Whether The Ruins can stand alone or collapses without support from the hotel, Simmons said his understanding is that the structure would not be cleared to reopen without extensive work. When a structure is deemed unsafe, the council has the option of condemning it, he said, and that would be his recommendation on how the council should proceed.
Should the council vote in favor of condemnation after hearing from the public Tuesday, the city will have the option of demolishing The Ruins and placing a lien on the property to cover the cost of the work.
