Cleveland Heights to Abate Six Properties

Cleveland Heights City Council approved resolutions Monday that declared six properties to be nuisances.

One property, gas station and convenience store at 2610 Noble Road, is known for drug activity, unkempt trash and public urination, Councilman Jason Stein said.

"To those people who live in that neighborhood or travel in it, help is on its way," Mayor Ed Kelley said. "That building will be coming down as soon as we can get our hands on it."

Council's approval of the resolutions authorizes abatement of the properties. Stein indicated that the decision on the gas station was long overdue because its owners have disregarded an agreement that followed a lawsuit filed by the city in Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas. The owners were to maintain the station's exterior and not expand its sales area. Instead, people can be seen selling unauthorized videos and CDs as far as one of the gas station's service bays.

Like the other properties deemed nuisances, Stein said Kwik Check is a public health and safety hazard and "a blighting influence." Council didn't provide any details on the city's course of action for the properties, but the resolutions state that the nuisances "must be abated at the earliest possible time."

The other properties were abandoned foreclosures on Brunswick, Lee, Nelawview and Rosemond roads.

A property on South Overlook Road will be abated because the property owner, Mark Gridley, abandoned it after building about half of it. He has told the city he no longer plans to finish his project. The building permit has already expired.