No saving this old home

COEUR d'ALENE — One of the oldest structures in Coeur d'Alene, if not the oldest, was recently ordered torn down after it fell into disrepair and posed a threat to a next-door day care center.

City Councilman Dan Gookin said the city took the correct action in demolishing the home that had become labeled a "dangerous building."

"We don’t do this enough," he said Monday. "I think it's really responsible for the city to go ahead and take care of stuff like this."

The small house at 113 E. Indiana Ave. with a detached garage was built in 1885, which was two years before the city of Coeur d'Alene was incorporated and only about 200 people lived there.

But it had sat abandoned for several years and in October 2020 the city was notified that homeless people had started camping in the backyard and eventually gained access to the 945-square-foot house.

Ted Lantzy with the Coeur d'Alene Building Department told Gookin and Woody McEvers of the General Services/Public Works Committee that code enforcement cleared the home.

But in April 2021, the city was notified that bricks from the chimney and tiles from the roof of the house, built right to the west property line, were falling onto the property of the next-door day care center, posing a safety threat.

The chimney was removed and blue tarps were placed over much of the roof, but Lantzy said the home's owner did not have funds to repair the structure.

Despite its long history, the home reached a point where "life, health, property or safety of the public or its occupants are endangered."

The city in February filed an abatement notice that the home needed to be demolished.

The city wrote that the home "has become so dilapidated or deteriorated as to become a harbor for vagrants."

The owners, who had 30 days to appeal, did not.

The city hired Cannon Hill Industries to remove the home, which was done March 13.

McEvers and Gookin on Monday approved the city's request for authorization to file a $16,500 lien against the property "relating to the Cost of Abatement and Demolition of a Dangerous Building."

That will allow the city to recoup the money when the land is sold.

According to Kootenai County records, Thomas Custer has paid property taxes on the property for the past six years, ranging from a high of $54.25 in 2018 to a low of $49.72 in 2020.

Custer could not be reached for comment.

In previous, similar situations, the city worked with the property owners, who removed the homes themselves, Lantzy said.

"This one just happens to be paid for by the city," he said.

The last time the city condemned a home and had it demolished was about 20 years ago.

On Monday afternoon, a small, white cross stood on the property.