City Building Commissioner updates Board of Work and problem properties

Thursday, August 14, 2025 at 3:00 AM

By Kathy Bottorff

Monday evening, Plymouth’s Building Commissioner Dennis Manuwal updated members of the Board of Public Works and Safety on some of the cases he has been actively working on.

The residential living facility at 309 Gibson Street, The Pointe Apartments, has been an issue in the city for over a year. The owner failed to meet the deadlines imposed by the city to make the facility safe for living in for many months. The building commissioner wants to require the owner to demolish the structure since he hasn’t brought it up to state and city standards.

Monday, the Board of Public Works opened quotes from two local businesses, Hunter Transit and Beaver Excavating. Hunter Transit submitted a quote of $55,101.12 while Beaver Excavating offered two quotes, $78,000 for the structure only and $97,500 for the complete removal. With such a price difference, the Building Commissioners asked that the quotes be taken under advisement for review. The board approved.

Mayor Listenberger has had some concerns about the cost of demolition that the city would have to cover and then place a lien on the property to recoup its money. He said there isn’t money in the 2025 budget to pay for the demolition. Listenberger thought they might be able to budget the demolition cost into the 2026 budget.

The Northgate Trailer Park was the second issue that Manuwal gave an update on. He Monday he told the board their 30 days end on Wednesday. Driving through the park on Monday, the building commissioners said the new owners have boarded up some of the units, but the two questionable trailers that he believes should be demolished have not been touched. It was noted that the grass in the park is getting tall again, and the catch basin hasn’t been addressed.

Manuwal told the board that he served two of the privately owned units with notice to demolish. One has not complied with the order, and the second hasn’t responded, so the order has been posted in the newspaper. The building commissioner said demolition will fall on the property owners because it is personal property sitting on their property. The owners did receive the notice.

The final update was for the Red Rock Inn. The building commissioner was on site on Friday and said, “The contractor is performing work. That’s about all I can say on that.”