X-31 property owner granted December nuisance extension

   William Durchenwald, a resident at 16259 County Road X-31, met with the Jones County Supervisors on Sept. 6 concerning a nuisance located at his property.

   On July 6, Durchenwald was issued an official nuisance notice. He was given 60 days to abate the nuisance, which expired on Sept. 5.

   Now, he is asking for an extension.

   he prefaced that he was served a notice from Land Use Administrator Michele Lubben following a complaint from a neighbor regarding the condition of his property.

   "My intent is to renovate the house, and I have not been able to complete it in an expedited manner," said Durchenwald. The house is for his daughter and son-in-law.

   He said he's spent four years removing debris off the property, to the tune of 50,000 pounds.

   "It's been an ongoing project," said Durchenwald.

   He has done some repairs on the garage and other buildings on the property to secure them from rodents.

   Durchenwald told the board he could have the project wrapped up by Dec. 15.

   "I've been keeping up on the lawn as best as I can," he addressed. "With the price of gas, we're doing our best.

   "We have some time constraints, but I want to do a lot of work this fall," continued Durchenwald. "But spring might be a better time."

   The board was unwilling to grant Durchenwald an extension into the spring, but did approve a deadline of Dec. 13.

   "I hate to see this drag into the spring when you'll have to put crops back in," commented Supervisor Joe Oswald.

   Durchenwald offered to provide regular progress updates until that time.

   "I've been working on this on a consistent basis," he said. "I don't know why it's considered a nuisance."

   Noting the longer-than-usual nuisance extension, Oswald said he would not have been in favor had Durchenwald not come to the board of supervisors in person to address the situation.

In other county business:

   • The board met with GIS Coordinator Kristi Aitchison regarding her department update/review. Aitchison chose to have her review in a closed session.

   • The board appointed Janine Sulzner as the District 4 representative on the Planning and Zoning Commission, to fill a vacancy.