Five months after the Thompson’s Appliances building in downtown Woodstock partially collapsed, the city is pumping the brakes on legal action to get the remaining structure torn down.
The City Council recently delayed moving ahead with legal action after Thompson’s Appliances owner Bob Thompson and his daughter, Hailey Thompson, spoke at a Council meeting and asked the city not to sue.
Bob Thompson owns the building at 318 Clay Street that partially collapsed Dec. 3 following heavy snowfall. Additional parts of the roof caved in days later. Asbestos has been hampering demolition efforts, the Thompsons said.
City officials said the property owners hadn’t been responding to the city regarding their plans for the structure, which prompted the city to contemplate legal action to compel the owners to clean up the site.
But Mayor Mike Turner said city officials would rather work with Thompson’s Appliances owners than sue them.
The mayor said five months have elapsed since the collapse and the building has become a “public risk.”
The city sidewalk has been blocked and the street is in a situation that’s becoming “untenable,” Turner said.
The mayor said city staff told him they haven’t had much contact with the appliance store ownership aside from the potential court action.
“That’s something we cannot live with,” the mayor said. Turner said the city was at a point where it was ready to talk to the building owners but needed to take action on behalf of the general public.
Turner said the business owners have his sympathies and said he knew how devastating the collapse has been for them.
“There’s no question you all have been ... pillars of the community,” Turner said.
City Manager Roscoe Stelford said later the city has met with a representative of the family and is “currently working with them to identify qualified contractors for asbestos remediation, followed by demolition.”
Bob Thompson said a city building inspector might not have realized there is asbestos in the building.
The asbestos has to be continuously wetted to be removed, Bob Thompson said. He said he wants to move ahead with that but couldn’t do it in January, February or part of March because of the cold winter weather.
“I’d like to move ahead with that,” Bob Thompson said. But he said his water has been disconnected, and he said he is still getting billed for it.
He also said he’d contacted four companies to help remove the asbestos and none got back to him. He even reached out to an asbestos school to learn how to remove it.
“I’m trying to figure out how,” Bob Thompson said.
Hailey Thompson said the building unexpectedly collapsed under the weight of heavy snowfall and her father didn’t have access to the property for close to a month afterwards.
She said the legal action was “unnecessary” and “unproductive.”
The lack of access hindered his ability to start work and clear items from the building, she said. Her father is now working to clear the rest of the items from the building and prepare for next steps now that weather is warmer.
She said the appliance business has been around for 98 years and in its current building for the majority of its run.
“This has been devastating to all of us,” Hailey Thompson said.
The city has not inspected the building since 2002, when work was done on it, Building and Planning Director Joe Napolitano confirmed. He said the city only conducts inspections when work is being done on buildings. But he said the fire department may have inspected the building since then.
The Council agreed to delay final action on the potential litigation until its next meeting, April 21, to give both parties a chance to work something out. Stelford said the city is anticipating a “more detailed status update” to share with the Council at that time.