Entire Marysville apartment building must be vacated after city inspection
An entire apartment building in Marysville must be vacated after a city inspection found health and safety violations that officials say make it unfit to live in.
The building is the old Uriz Hotel located on A Street downtown. It's a privately owned apartment building that houses low-income residents.
The City of Marysville served a vacate and abate notice for the building on Tuesday. Tenants have 14 days to find a new place to live.
"It's all been resident-driven. The city has engaged with the owner, has done previous inspections and tried to get them to make the corrections," said Jeramy Chapdelaine, chief building official for the city. "And then, in the last couple of months, the owner decided to quit cooperating with the city."
Chapdelaine said the city had to get a warrant to complete inspections and found extremely poor conditions that include leaking fixtures, fire hazards, exposed wires, blocked exits, squatters, and drug use.
"The property has been occupied for years, has been previously inspected by the city, and ownership was in active discussions with the city regarding a redevelopment agreement to address upgrades," said AJ Beck, the owner of the building. "However, those negotiations were halted by the city in favor of a sudden inspection, a warrant, and a notice to vacate."
Some tenants tell us the building is their only option besides living on the street.
"You couldn't find one empty bed at one of the shelters. There's only two shelters and they're packed full with a waiting list and here we are," said a male tenant.
"We really take seriously and do our best to not displace residents. The last thing we want to do is have folks, especially in these conditions, lose a place to live. But after reviewing everything, over 350 photos of the conditions, we just keep coming back to it. There's just too many imminent life safety issues there," said Chapdelaine.
Beck said he plans to appeal the vacate-and-abate order within 10 days.
Between 23 and 30 people are living in the building. The city says they've reached out to local county partners and other organizations to step in to help find places for the tenants to live.
