Joliet Public Nuisance Has Been Vacant Since 2015 After Homeowner's Death, 2020 Water Shutoff: City

JOLIET — For one of the first times in what seems like forever, Joliet City Hall department heads went before the Joliet City Council seeking approval to declare a handful of houses across the community to be deemed public nuisances. For several years, it was a regular occurrence for the City Council agendas to include public nuisances, but in recent years that has not been happening until now.

According to this week's memo from Joliet Director of Community Development Dustin Anderson, the attached list of addresses represents properties that meet the city's modified policy concerning public nuisances and "in all instances proper notification of a pending public nuisance declaration has been mailed to each property owner and they have failed to respond. If approved, this declaration of a public nuisance is a progressive step in seeking compliance which can lead to demolition.

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"Upon a public nuisance declaration, demolition proceedings will be pursued, or in the alternative, executed agreements requiring the rehabilitation of the structures in compliance with the ordinances of the City of Joliet," Anderson wrote.

Joliet Patch will produce a short story on each of three sad rundown properties that gained Joliet City Council approval at Tuesday night's meetings.

The subject properties were as follows:

962 Cottage Place

6 North Hickory Street

216 3rd Avenue

According to Anderson's memo regarding 6 North Hickory St., Rosemary Lawler was the owner.

Property Description: This is a two-story, wood frame, single-family home with a detached one-story wood-frame garage. It has been vacant since 2015 and has had no active water service since July 2020. The property owner, Rosemary Lawler, is deceased. The property has accumulated more than $22,000 in outstanding fines and is subject to an extensive and continually growing list of code violations resulting from prolonged abandonment and neglect.