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Ypsilanti council approves hearing‑officer order for 539 S. Huron after years of stalled work
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Summary
After staff described missing inspections, degraded footings and five years of exposure, Ypsilanti City Council approved a hearing‑officer order requiring compliance at 539 South Huron within 60 days. The property's representative said litigation and a bad contractor stalled work and proposed a plan to finish the site.
YPSILANTI — The Ypsilanti City Council on Tuesday approved a hearing‑officer order requiring the owner of 539 South Huron Street to bring the partially built structure into compliance within 60 days, after staff described structural deficiencies and a multiyear history of uncompleted work.
City building official Jerry Dunham told the council staff found expired permits, missing special‑inspector reports for concrete and steel, footings that did not match plans, broken concrete block, missing bolts and bent rebar. “The structure has sat for now roughly five years without any protection from the weather,” Dunham said, and investigators flagged multiple enforcement efforts over the last two years.
The order before council mirrored the hearing officer’s recommendation and gave the owner 60 days to comply, with demolition as a possible outcome if the order is not followed. After brief deliberation, the council approved the motion on a roll‑call vote.
Owner representative James Nemeth spoke in his defense and outlined the project’s history. Nemeth said the building’s construction began in 2018, that the project stalled amid a contractor dispute and litigation, and that he had paid permit extension fees and hired outside inspectors earlier in the process. “We had funding for the project…we gave [the builder] $1.75 million,” Nemeth said, adding that his team invested roughly $750,000 to clean and prepare the site. He told council he now plans to revise the project to include a car wash and shop front, and estimated a planning‑and‑construction timeline measured in months rather than years.
Council members pressed Nemeth on missing special‑inspector paperwork and whether the structural footings could be certified after the fact; staff and the city attorney said they had repeatedly requested such documentation and had not received it. City counsel noted that special inspectors typically perform ongoing concrete‑strength testing while pours occur, and those firms will often be unwilling to certify work they did not witness.
Nemeth said he could arrange a structural engineer review and that he has had outside inspections at earlier stages, but he acknowledged that litigation and a builder’s failure to finish work delayed progress.
Why it matters: The property sits at a major gateway into the city; staff said the combination of missing inspections and exposed steel and concrete presents a public‑safety concern. The council’s action enforces the hearing officer’s order and sets a 60‑day timeline for the owner to remedy violations or face further action.
What happens next: The order requires compliance within 60 days; if the owner does not comply, the council may direct demolition and charge costs to the owner and potentially assess taxes. The owner may appeal a demolition order to circuit court, counsel said.
