By Kellen Olshefski
Staff Writer
With winter and snowfall imminent, the Village of East Troy voted in favor of setting a Dec. 1 deadline for the owner of buildings destroyed in an April fire to fill the vacant property.
As of the last board meeting, the understanding, according to Village of East Troy Board President Randy Timms, was the owner would either get construction started or finish the raze order before “snow flies.”
Owner Greg Aprahamian notified the board Monday evening that in compliance with the raze order, he would be filling the properties on the square.
Aprahamian said he has been working with an excavator to look into getting the footings removed and get the project leveled off since it’s likely they won’t be able to start construction this year.
“My intention is not, not to build there,” he said. “It’s just not going to happen before winter so that’s why we’re filling the hole.”
Aprahamian, who has located 300 yards of cubic fill, and needs only an additional 200, said it’s just a matter of coordinating everything together with excavator Karl Sawyer to get it all completed.
Timms raised concerns to both the board and Aprahamian considering where the current foundation lays and sewer connections.
With some of the foundation extending beneath the sidewalk of the square, he said it has to be done carefully to make sure there’s no damage done.
According to Aprahamian, the plan is to breakdown and remove the foundation, except for along Church and Main Streets in an attempt to protect the sidewalks, compacting the foundation to use as filler.
In regards to sewer connections, Department of Public Works Director Mike Miller said the property has three sewer stubs on it and initially suggested abandoning the sewer connection from the main and when Aprahamian goes to reconstruct he would then re-tap the sewer main.
Aprahamian noted this route was his original plan as he would bring in a new line, along with a new water supply to feed a sprinkler. However, he explained how far he abandoned the line depended on whether or not the neighboring property was fed off of that sewer connection.
Considering the fact any abandonment would have to occur before filling the property, Miller said with so many unknowns about what properties are all fed off of that sewer line, the village would have to likely spend unbudgeted money to hire a contractor.
“We’ll have to camera both sewer mains, we’ll have to do some dye testing, we’ll have to send some water down the sewer pipes, we’ll have to go to all the businesses around there to see if they’re all tied together, I mean, it’s a big deal,” he said.
With an estimate of at least three weeks to complete Miller’s part of the process, the board set a Nov. 1 deadline for him to research the sewer lines along those properties.
Aprahamian said if Miller needed three weeks, in the meantime he’d get the ball rolling on his end to make sure he’s ready to go at the start of November.
“It’ll be five days of trucking to get it in, and then they have to compact one-foot at a time,” he said. “So, it’s probably going to take me two weeks to get it there and compacted.”
In light of this information, the board unanimously voted in favor of Dec. 1 as a reasonable deadline for completion of the raze order.
Trustee Fortune Renucci requested in the event Aprahamian decides not to rebuild in the spring time, the village would see black dirt with grass seed put on the property to avoid large amounts of run-off from the lot.
The second motion, setting a deadline of April 15 for either construction to begin or for black dirt to be put on the property, was also approved unanimously by the board.
