CHANDLER, IN (WFIE) -
The town of Chandler says since the beginning of the year, they have removed about 50 rundown vehicles off of streets and driveways, and now, they say they are making sure residents keep their properties clean and up to code.
Some homes may have to be cleaned up or demolished by the town.
A home on West Lincoln in Chandler is set to be demolished in just a few days on October 11. As far as the other eight homes, two of the property owners have asked for an extension, two of them have cleaned up their homes, and three are a work in progress.
"This is where we are now. We've made a big improvement in just two or three days on it," said Chandler's environmental manager, Grover Fisher. "A week ago, we had three Jeeps that were parked in the driveway, none of them were in working order. The grass was probably three to four foot high. The front porch was entirely engulfed with trash, all down the sides of the driveway. You can see where we have already started cleaning it up. It was just piled up about shoulder high. It just needed to be cleaned up."
Fisher says, in January, he began contacting residents every other month advising them to clean their properties up, but more than six months later, many property owners still weren't up to code.
"The council, we got together and decided we would take matters into our own hands. We did it legally. We sent a letter for a public hearing, they came. If they asked for an extension, they got one. If they didn't come we cleaned it up," Fisher said.
William Jenkins says he'd been looking at the mess across his street for nearly eight years.
"We couldn't see the neighbors across the way," Jenkins said.
This week, workers removed trash off of the front porch and shrubbery.
"I can see everything on the side of the house now," Jenkins said.
Workers say they found rodents and snakes on some of the properties.
The money is coming from an unsafe buildings fund the town hopes will be replenished by the home owners.
"We are going to get rid of the dumps," Fisher said.
Fisher tells 14 News there are eight or nine homes that will also require some attention.
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This is one of three homes the town of Chandler is cleaning up this week after getting complaints from residents several months ago.
