An eyesore that has been sitting on Sashabaw Road for the past four months will stay a few weeks more, causing residents to become worried about the image it creates for the township.
“For a community dedicated to keeping it’s image up, it doesn’t do much for the image of the community,” said Independence Township resident Robert Jablonski. “It looks like a building you would see in downtown Detroit.”
Jablonski has gone to the township building department with photos of the house to bring the eyesore to the attention of township officials.
“They said to me that something will be done with this house within the next two weeks and now it’s been more than a month,” he said.
The vacant home, which has been sitting on the lot for around four months, was to have been sold by Clarkston State Bank to the late L. Brooks Patterson, Jr., son of the Oakland County Executive.
“He (Patterson Jr.) had agreed to buy it and he was going to do some things to get it fixed up because that’s what his business did,” said Dawn Horner, president and CEO of Clarkston State Bank. “Unfortunately, he was killed. After that, I had to wait to hear from his people as to if they still wanted it. When I heard they didn’t, I pursued this other gentleman to see if he was interested in purchasing it.”
Horner said everything has been and will continue to be taken care of, as frost laws are lifted and the house is able to be moved.
“We can’t move it right now,” she said. “We have a person interested in it, and if that pans out, this person will move it to a property in which they can renovate it. If that doesn’t work out, we will move it so it can be demolished. But right now, we can’t move the house at all.”
Frost laws, which place weight restrictions on vehicles, are put in place in Michigan to protect the integrity of the roads.
According to the Road Commission for Oakland County, weight restrictions for the county were lifted Wednesday, April 4 at 6 p.m.
“I just talked to the mover today and he said he couldn’t move it yet,” said Horner. “I also talked to the gentleman who is interested in it and he said it’s looking good, but he will still have to wait a few weeks to move it to the new location because he’ll need to put footings in the ground before it can be moved.”
According to Eric Pendley, assistant building director for the township, the bank was contacted and told to put up fencing until it can be moved.
Since then, fencing has been put up and the building department has been monitoring the situation. According to Pendley, the land the home rests on will be incorporated into the McLaren Health Village expected in the area.