BY MILES LAYTON

Edenton Town Council threw a lifeline to property owners on the chopping block for nine homes that faced condemnation for violating the Town’s housing ordinances.

Tuesday, Council gave these folks more time to repair their property – at least 90 days – and none of the places is facing demolition, for the time being, in hopes that these homes, many of them historic in nature, can be preserved. Photos of the properties appear at the end of this story.

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A balance must be made when evaluating each of these homes moving forward as to whether they contribute to Edenton’s charm or whether it’s best to start a new chapter – tear it down.

These homes have repeatedly been cited while Town Hall has tried to resolve these matters for the past few years. More properties – 67 homes – are poised to be cited.

The problem that Town Hall has run into is that some of these houses are owned by out-of-state folks and/or hard-to-reach heirs who can’t do much to remedy the matter for various reasons.

If a property is tied up in an estate, it becomes harder to remedy the matter unless all the heirs sign off on paying for much needed property repairs or selling the property. One property had 125 heirs. …

Council members Elton Bond and Aaron Coston said they may have leads about who best to contact for a few of these homes.

Some of these houses need thousands of dollars in repairs to be brought up to code, perhaps in some cases exceeding the value of the home and probably any resale value – if the house can be sold. To be candid, in some cases, it’s more cost efficient to demolish the homes than to restore them.

Demolition can cost $15,000 to $20,000, maybe more, according to town officials.

Town Hall reached out not only to property owners, but to contractors and others who may able to do something rather let these places continue to fall into further disrepair.

Dewayne Whealton, Assistant Town Manager/Planner, concedes that Town Hall has tried to work with homeowners, but there’s more that needs to be done.

“If we had more contractors that were willing to invest, more people willing to take on some of these projects, homeowners that were willing to help because in certain situations homeowners just won’t respond — You talk to them where they say there’s nothing wrong with the house when in fact, you know, it’s about to fall over onto the next door neighbor’s home. We’ve had a lot of luck thinking outside the box where some of these have been, you know, getting to the point where we just can’t find any movement forward.”

Councilman Coston said, “We appreciate your work too. I know that you guys have gone through a lot dealing with some of these, but I don’t know — I’d much rather try to keep hammering at it in some ways and just say, ‘Hey look, we’ve exhausted all options’ before resulting into something as, you know, significant.”

Counter argument – Councilman Sambo Dixon said these homes are worth restoring because they are unique and have historical value.

“This place is so unique that we need to guard every single place we got,” he said.

In essence, Dixon made the case that if you tear some of these homes down, you lose a part of Edenton. For example, once upon a time mill houses were in disrepair until folks recognized their value and restored them – made Cotton Mill Circle a great place to live.

Down East Preservation has done a great job at restoring homes throughout Edenton – even in places such as Belhaven and Bath.

Moreover, Dixon said demolishing these homes will increase the trash dumped into a landfill – that it is more “green” to restore these structures than use building material to construct new houses.

“I don’t like the idea of demolition,” Dixon said. “These are nice-looking houses. I mean, you know, we’re trying to have a world where we don’t use all the natural resources. I mean the greenest house in the world is a house that’s already built, period. I mean that, you know, because you don’t have to then tear down everything, fill the landfill up, start all over, cut down trees.”

Dixon makes a compelling point, but consider this comparison when talking about cars – does one restore an AMC Gremlin or a Ford Pinto that needs a complete engine workover bodywork or buy a new car for less?

That said, folks would certainly restore classic cars like a Chevy Camaro or a Ford Mustang the same as they would a two-story turn of the century home that’s irreplaceable – a true architectural gem.

Another point Dixon made – maybe it’s time to expand Edenton’s historic district to include more homes.

“I think it shows us the need to expand our story district too,” Dixon said. “I mean these are for the most part houses built by successful African-Americans and at a time when it was a struggle to build a house like these. They represent something I think of as very positive — African-American owners and African-American contractors. I think they’re really a part of who we are as a town.”

If the property owners choose not to work with Town Hall to restore these houses, then these places will be condemned and eventually the courts will get involved – judicial foreclosure – transferring the property to entities, public or private, that have the means and methods to make decisions to reject the status quo.

Though it is public record, the Albemarle Observer is withholding the property owners’ names to preserve their dignity and because we have faith that things will work out, but you know who you are and what you need to do.

Those homes on the list presented to council include: