Andrews – Officials are cracking down on unsafe properties within town limits, but one owner believes it’s part of a plot to run him out of business.
Over the past four months, town officials have sent letters to more than a half-dozen owners, informing them that their properties are either unsafe or otherwise noncompliant with zoning laws. The crackdown was triggered by numerous citizen complaints regarding blight.
A letter dated July 28 informs owners of three lots on Cheoa Street that the properties are structurally unsound, posing a health and safety risk to the community. Officials say citizens reported that vagrants were squatting in one of the homes, even though side walls are missing from the building. The letter asks the owners to “correct the unsafe conditions or demolish the structures entirely.”
Town officials sent similar letters to owners of properties on Collette Street, Connaheta Avenue and Fairview Mobile Home Park Circle, which consists of several trailers that are uninhabitable. Officials also sent letters to an owner who keeps a recreational vehicle on his property hooked up for overnight use, and two separate owners who were using commercially zoned properties as residential dwellings.
Harold Rhinehardt – father of former Andrews mayor Mitchell Rhinehardt, who passed away last year – received one of the latter letters. He owns a commercial building on Town Branch Road, which he converted into five separate apartments several years ago.
“They're trying to bankrupt me,” Rhinehardt told the Cherokee Scout, adding that he believes someone in town ratted him out for financial reasons. “They have been trying to buy me out for 18 years and I won’t sell, so they're going to put me out.”
Rhinehardt, who owns several properties in Cherokee County, said a town official gave him permission to convert the Town Branch Road building into apartments several years ago before any of the present members joined the zoning board. He believes a real estate competitor reported that tenants have been storing personal items outside the building in hopes of forcing a sale.
“I think they've got something going on that we don’t know about,” Rhinehardt said. “One guy told me a couple years ago that they wanted to tear down all the old buildings in town so somebody could come in and buy the land to build something new.”
Rhinehardt said he’s had trouble renting the Town Branch Road building to commercial tenants, so he converted it to apartments, which include bathrooms and kitchens in each unit. He believes his property is safe for multi-family dwelling, but town officials disagree.
Officials say the building is unsafe because it was never constructed to be a residential property and does not have proper egress from the bedrooms. Officials say the lack of proper egress is a safety hazard and could result in death in the event of a fire.
Officials told the Scout that Rhinehardt is free to convert the building back into offices and continue renting them for commercial purposes. However, Rhinehardt questions whether he’ll be successful in finding tenants based on previous attempts.
“Who's going to go into that dead place and rent an office?” he rhetorically asked. “They can't keep a police force. They can’t keep nothing up there.”
Rhinehardt has agreed to help the Town Branch Road tenants move into other properties he owns while he decides what to do with the building. A woman outside one of the apartments told the Scout she has lived there for five years and is happy to be moving. Rhinehardt said a few of the tenants have expressed a desire to move back into the property.
“They moved under the understanding that if they don't close me down, they will come back,” Rhinehardt said. “They want to be down there in town.”
In June, the Scout reported that town officials were battling a couple who owns a commercial property on Main Street that was being used as a boarding house. Officials say the couple has since agreed to use the building as permitted by zoning laws.