Judge sends motel owner to jail for not meeting demolition deadline

Crime & Safety Headlines More Crime&Safety Crime Stoppers More Crimestoppers Crime Databases More Databases Continuing stories More Ongoing Stories Local Stories from ThisWeek More Articles By John Futty The Columbus Dispatch Saturday August 2, 2014 6:11 AM

As the owner of a blighted East Side motel was being taken from a Franklin County courtroom in handcuffs yesterday morning, Doni Schoedinger was thinking about the party that she and her neighbors are planning for the buildings demolition.

Were going to have a cookout across the street when they bring in the bulldozers, she said after a judge found Fu Ih Chu in contempt of court and ordered him to jail until the building is torn down.

Im dumbfounded, Environmental Judge Dan Hawkins said after hearing testimony that Chu hadnt obtained a demolition permit for the former Motel One by Thursdays court-ordered deadline.

The deteriorating, crime-ridden motel at 3190 E. Main St. was shut down in April 2012 by Hawkins predecessor, Harland Hale, after city prosecutors presented evidence that it was a magnet for drug deals and prostitution. One year later, Hale declared the property a public nuisance and ordered it demolished or sold within 180 days.

Chu and his daughter Helen Steed appealed the court order, but the county Court of Appeals sent the case back to Environmental Court after the city and the owner filed a joint motion asking that they be allowed to resolve the case.

In May, Hawkins signed an order giving Chu until July 31 to demolish the building and transfer the property to a real-estate agent interested in redeveloping the site.

Chu, 67, testified yesterday that the demolition was delayed because the agent, Steve Master, has been unable to finalize deals with tenants for the proposed development.

Hawkins said the suggestion that Master is the one to blame for the demolition delay is infuriating.

Schoedinger said the property, about 400 feet from her house, has been such a nightmare for the neighborhood that it prompted her to join pickets outside, testify at a 2012 hearing and become active in her block-watch program.

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Judge sends motel owner to jail for not meeting demolition deadline