At the June 15-16 Board of Mineral County Commissioners meeting, the Commissioners approved the demolition of Ramona’s on 814 E Street as well as two buildings on 633 B Street. The cost to tear down Ramona’s will be $9,880 and the two on B Street will be $16,100, as well as a cost of $4,210 for safety fencing while the demolition happens.
“They are falling into the dirt,” says Mineral County Building Inspector Stephanie Flow when asked why the buildings are being torn down. She explains that several buildings in Hawthorne- including Ramona’swere built on railroad ties decades ago, and that wood is now deteriorating and dragging those structures into the ground. People have been breaking in and living in these run-down buildings, and they are constantly having to be boarded up.
“No one is beguiled or hurt about tearing those buildings down. Something needs to happen with these dilapidated, unsafe places and it does have to be done by a professional demolition company,” Flow says. But in many cases owners don’t have the money to pay for that demolition. With the Building Department being the liaison in facilitating the demolitions, owners can free up their land that can then be sold and used for something new to come in.
“The cost of the demolition goes on the owner’s property taxes, and they’ll have 2-4 years to pay that off. And they have the ability to sell that blank property and make some money, so it’s a win-win for everyone,” she says.
Flow grew up in Hawthorne and the town is a lot different today then she remembers. When she was a kid, Hawthorne was a nice place, with big box stores (like Sears) and a thriving economy. Flow moved to Oregon in the early 1980s and spent the last few decades there raising her family, coming back to Hawthorne last year. She was sad to see the boarded-up buildings and how the town was slowly sliding into disarray. There happened to be an open position in the building department, and this provided an opportunity for Flow to help get Hawthorne back to what it used to be.
“I’m pushing to get these buildings torn down to make land available,” Flow says, which could then also help solve the housing shortage or allow necessary services like a veterinarian or senior services that a few current Mineral County residents must drive up to a hundred miles for.
“We can’t keep living like this. We want business and people coming to Hawthorne. Clean-up needs to happen,” Flow says.
The Building Department issues permits for residential and commercial building projects in the unincorporated areas of Mineral County; the cost of the permits is based on the appraisal of construction. For more information, contact the Building Department at (775) 945-3671 or (775) 316-0145.
