Contrasts in structural demolition figures.

by Don Moniak
March 19, 2023
Updated March 20, 2023 and May 3, 2023.

Sources

DEMO 200:

The DEMO 200 program that was recently suspended pending further review is enshrined in Section 10-3, Demolition Assistance Programs—of the the City of Aiken Municipal Code. It allows a property owner to pay the city only $200 to have a “substandard” structure on their property demolished. The term “substandard” is not defined in the ordinance.

For residential properties, the ordinance states:

“As an alternative to any procedure set forth in any applicable section, the building official may meet with, or correspond with, all the owners of the residential property upon which a substandard structure may be located and offer to have the city undertake the demolition of the substandard structure in return for the payment by the owner to the city of the total sum of $200.00. Upon receipt of this payment, and the execution of an agreement approved by the city attorney, by the owners of the property on which the substandard structure is located, the building official may direct the demolition and removal of the substandard structure.”

For commercial properties, the cost is $2,000 to the property owner, the maximum demolition cost is $20,000, participants must own the property for two years and keep them for another four to avoid any penalties.

The City of Aiken is stingy about sharing program information, and requires a Freedom of Information Act request for any data. One recent request revealed that Chaplin and Sons Clearing is the city’s primary contractor for DEMO 200 jobs. A search of the city’s  AP Check and EFT Registers in the  Finance Department folder of the city’s document repository revealed three invoice totals for the company from January 2022 to January 2023:

01/19/2023  $7,750.00  on Page 15 of 1/3/15 Check Register\. Check # 305315

4/27/22.       $6750.00 on Page 16 of 4/30/22 Check Register  Check #302364

1/5/22. $6750 on Page 1 of 1/31/22 Check Register Check # 300846

It is likely that the 1/19/2023 invoice pertained to the recent demolition of a home at 327 Chesterfield Street N., seen in the two photos below taken on October 24, 2022, a few months prior to demolition. Another home within the same fenced lot, listed as having a $6750 “valuation”/demolition cost in city records, was demolished under DEMO 200 sometime after June 2019 (see feature photo). The property was subsequently sold, and the remaining home was demolished. The lot is now entirely empty.

A Chaplin and Sons Clearing demolition permit reported a demolition cost of $5250 (below) in the permit, but that is not necessarily the final cost. The appraised value of the home reported by the Aiken County Assessor’s Office in 2022 was $57,132; a value that, coupled with the property value of $22,000, resulted in an tax assessment value of $4750 and a 2022 tax bill for property owner Susan Parry of $1101.05. The 2023 bill will only be for the property value.

Warneke Cleaners and Holley House Motel

The Aiken Municipal Development Commission holds title to the seven properties in downtown Aiken informally known as the Pascalis project properties. Demolition of two of these properties, the operating Warneke Cleaners and the vacant Holley House Motel, is part of the post-Pascalis scheme for a three-story, 45,000 square foot office complex the City of Aiken proposes to build on behalf of the Department of Energy’s Savannah River National Laboratory; at a cost of $20 from state plutonium settlement funds.

The combined square footage of the two properties is 20,683 square feet. (Warneke Cleaners 6308 sq ft, Holley House Motel, 14375 sq ft). According to a Savannah River Site Litigation Fund Request Form submitted by the City of Aiken to Aiken County, and forwarded by the county to the state’s Executive Budget Office and Joint Bond Review Committee for official project approval and release of funds, the City of Aiken estimated a cost for “site development” of $1,500,000 ($1.5 million). The only explanation provided for the project cost is “demolition.”

The City of Aiken has declared its intent to move Warneke Cleaner to another location on nearby Richland Avenue. No cost estimate for the relocation is provided in the funding request; nor is any estimate of environmental cleanup costs for the existing dry cleaner. The city’s zoning ordinance also prohibits “light industry” like dry cleaners in the downtown business district—-existing dry cleaners were grandfathered in after the zoning ordinance was amended.

(Update). In April of 2021, the first Project Pascalis project cost estimate from Weldon Wyatt’s GAC, LLC projected a demolition and abatement cost of $712,248 for the entire project area—seven properties. The cost estimate for the Holley House was just under $100,000.

Hahn Village Demolition.

The Hahn Village public housing complex on 19.2 acres owned by the Aiken Housing Authority once housed anywhere from 250- 300 people in about 100 housing units across ~42 duplex-style complexes that ranged in size from 1400 to 2800 square feet and housing 2-4 families per unit. Demolition was announced in 2018 and completed in 2022.

Cliff Hampton of Alternative Construction and Environmental Solutions, who managed the demolition for the Aiken Housing Authority, which owns the 19.2 acres, the winning bid to demolish approximately 100,000 square feet of residences was just over a half million dollars—or one-third the speculated downtown demolition and site development costs for the SRNL project.

Mr. Hampton wrote in an email:

“The winning bid was for $531,700.00 submitted by Chaplin and Sons Clearing and Demolition.  The City of Aiken’s arborist has worked closely with us through this process.  The City of Aiken would not issue a demolition permit without this being accomplished.  There are trees that have been designated by the arborist that can not be disturbed and have been protected to the arborist’s satisfaction.  Chaplin and Sons Clearing and Demolition has stated that they plan to remove no trees other than the ones that have fallen down onto structures through natural causes.”

Next: Homes Demolished Under DEMO 200.