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Granisle faces problems with second derelict property

Closed lodge has large hole in roof
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Closed Mammoth Lodge building is deteriorating thanks to hole in roof. (File image/Houston Today)

Already reluctantly grappling with one derelict property, the Village of Granisle is now dealing with a second property in need of remedial work.

It’s the Mammoth Lodge at 62 Hagan Street, once intended as a destination dining and accommodation establishment but which now has been closed since the middle of the last decade.

It’s near a second substantial property, the former mini-mall at 82 Hagan St. and also in bad shape which ended up in the village’s hands this year following the 2021 tax sale period.

“Over the past few years it has become in a state of disrepair,” Village chief administrative officer Sharon Smith wrote to the village’s law firm in September in asking for an idea of what the village could do.

“In the winter of 2017 there was a partial roof collapse due to a heavy snow load. Since that time the only remedial work to the facility was to drape a tarp over the hole.”

That’s been completely ineffective, Smith continued, with the hole becoming larger as snow and rain have continued to pour in.

The correspondence with the village’s law firm followed a promise, so far not fulfilled, made this past summer by the property owner that doors and windows would be boarded up and other maintenance carried out.

In responding, Michael Moll from the firm of Young and Anderson, laid out several options for the Village beginning with issuing a remedial action requirement to the owner to protect the property from the elements and, if not, have the village take action if the owner does not.

That could also extend to a demolition order, he added.

Moll also said the village might seek to buy the property in hopes of selling it onward to someone who would take remedial action.

Finally, the village could “wait to see if the owner (eventually) sells, repairs, or demos,” he continued.

Moll did warn that while the village has what he termed “strong authority” to order work on the building, it “does not have any real direct power to compel the owners to maximize the use of the property.”

He did suggest council consider remedial action along the same lines as it undertook with the 82 Hagan/mini-mall property.

Smith said the council is investigating its next steps.