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Residents urge Dayton commission to require posted demolition notices after safety concerns
Summary
Residents told the Dayton City Commission that current demolition notice practices are inadequate and risky, asking for physical signage and public listings so people who shelter in vacant properties are not endangered; staff said enforcement language and reports are in process.
Taleeb Pashaway told the Dayton City Commission that city demolition practices put people at risk and fall short on public notice. "So when there is a demolition, a matter of life and death, why is there no requirement to notify the public at all?" Pashaway said during public comment, urging the commission to require physical signage, dates, times and an accessible public listing of properties before crews remove structures.
Pashaway and other speakers argued that some unhoused residents take shelter in vacant buildings and that digital notice does not reach everyone. Rodney Stark questioned transparency and spending on 34 North Main Street, citing repeated supplemental funding for repairs and asbestos abatement and urging the commission to explain ownership and the project's public benefit.
In response to questions about property sales and compliance timelines, Veronica Morris of Economic Development said the division vets prospective purchasers by requesting a business plan and scope of work and by using development agreements with revisionary language to ensure work proceeds. "We ask for business plan, we ask for a scope of work ... and then we enter into a development agreement on the back end to ensure that those things are actually occurring," Morris said.
Commissioners acknowledged demolition concerns and noted staff will provide a demolition report and a forthcoming housing condition report that will show where demolitions are taking place across the city. One commissioner moved to pull a property sale from the agenda for one week to allow staff to provide additional details on timelines and enforcement provisions.
The commission did not adopt a new demolition-notice policy at the meeting; staff and commissioners said follow-up materials and reports will be provided in coming weeks.
