Smithfield’s Town Council is moving forward with plans to remove the charred remains of a house on Magruder Road, even though an attorney representing owners Lenny and Chrissy Harris says the town’s interference could jeopardize the couple’s ability to collect on their insurance claim.

The council voted 5-2 on May 6 to declare the property “blighted,” which under the town’s blight abatement ordinance gives the town the authority to demolish the remnants and charge the cost of the demolition as a lien against the property.

The ordinance defines “blighted” as uninhabited structures measuring more than 256 square feet that, by reason of dilapidation, obsolescence or the absence of electricity, water or sanitary facilities, are detrimental to the health, safety or welfare of the community. The ordinance gives owners of blighted properties 30 days from their receipt of the town’s initial notice, in this case dated Jan. 29, to submit a “spot blight abatement plan,” and 90 days to complete that plan.

Though the couple has paid to erect a fence around the property and has applied for a demolition permit, Councilman Steve Bowman contends the homeowners’ actions and written correspondence to date still don’t specify when the site will be razed.

“To say that I’m disappointed is an understatement. … It’s just been one thing after another after another. I live within five houses of this blighted structure because that’s exactly what it is. It’s a blighted structure without a doubt. It’s not a salvageable structure. I have been in consultation with the Department of State Police. They have indicated to me that they have no problem whatsoever from an investigative perspective as far as they’re concerned having the structure torn down and removed. And I think these people in this neighborhood have put up with this long enough. We as a council have been very understanding and the fence that was put up does absolutely nothing to mitigate the way that it looks as far as the viewshed’s concerned,” Bowman said a week ahead of the vote at the Town Council’s April 28 committee meetings. “

Bowman made a motion on May 6 to “find the owners of the property located at 1502 Magruder Road have failed to respond to the town’s notice that the property is in a blighted condition with a plan of abatements acceptable to the town” and to direct Town Manager Michael Stallings to “develop an abatement plan.” Councilwoman Valerie Butler and Councilman Darren Cutler cast the dissenting votes.

The couple had been renovating the house and had listed it for sale when the Oct. 28 blaze occurred.

Small said his clients have yet to recover a dime despite cooperating fully with months of demands from their insurer. The insurer took under-oath depositions on May 16, Small said.

“In my many years as an attorney, this is the first time I’ve ever seen an insurance company give somebody in a homeowners situation as difficult a time to recover the policy and to date the insurance company has not given us any reason why they’re not paying on the policy or they’re not covering their obligations out of the policy except to continue to demand information from the Harrises,” Small had told the council a month earlier.

“I don’t disagree with Councilman Bowman that this has taken a lot longer than it should have taken, but I do disagree that that is the fault of my clients,” Small said at the May 6 meeting.

Small said in April that the town’s declaring the property blighted and taking action to raze it before the insurance company pays could give the insurer an excuse to deny the roughly $600,000 policy.

Bowman and Small each referenced subsequent April 22 correspondence with the Virginia State Police that states their investigation into the fire remains open but “we have no investigative interest in the structure itself at this time and have no objection to it being demolished.” 

The fire “was not their fault; there is no evidence that I’m aware of that it is their fault,” Small said. “I don’t know why the investigation is still open. … The Harrises are as frustrated about this situation as any of you are.”

But because the investigation is technically still open, “any evidence that relates to that fire” remaining at the site “could be important to my clients in addressing anything that the State Police could bring up,” Small said.