A downtown property with major roof damage was given 30 days to show the Albert Lea City Council significant improvement before the city would move forward with an emergency abatement process.

Building Official and Zoning Administrator Wayne Sorensen during Tuesday’s City Council meeting presented pictures from his inspection of the building at 132 S. Broadway Ave., which was formerly a hobby shop. Sorensen said the roof was structurally unsound with an imminent risk of collapsing.

“The temporary shoring of the roof would be an immediate need,” Sorensen said.

With winter forthcoming, heavy snowfall could add to the risk of a roof collapse.

“That’s what I’m worried about is that roof coming down, and then we’ve got a lot bigger problems to deal with,” Sorensen said.

A representative of the property, Greg Sundholm, said the building was part of his grandfather’s estate, which is being managed by one of his sisters. The city’s enforcement period began in July 2015, at a time when Sundholm said the information was not reaching the estate’s executor due to family communication issues. Additionally, at that time the family did not have the means to finance the projects.

Now, because the family has the ability to sell his grandfather’s property, he is hoping to use the funds to rehabilitate the property.

“We’re going to be working on it, and a lot more diligently, now that we’re the proper people to be talking to,” Sundholm said.

He asked for another 30 days to give him enough time to meet with a contractor, who could recommend roof changes. The City Council voted 3-2 not to extend the original 30-day period the emergency abatement resolution provided.

Sundholm said during the meeting that if the City Council decided after the 30-day window that they did not see significant improvement, the family would accept the city’s decision to move forward with an emergency abatement.

“Nobody likes to air their dirty laundry to the public,” he said.

City Manager Chad Adams said if the City Council were to decide the property did not show significant changes within 30 days, the city would decide at the Jan. 22 council meeting to get repair estimates, and would assess the costs to the property. Adams said he hopes to see a good faith effort from the building’s owners.

Sorensen’s pictures showed two child-sized swimming pools filled with water from leaks surrounded by several buckets. Some of the leaks in the building come from a hole in the back of the roof the size of a softball.

“You can see daylight looking up,” Sorensen said of the hole.

The roof also has an indent in it that collects water rather than allowing it to run off the back of the building.

Sorensen recommended rehabilitating the building rather than removing it, largely because the building shares some common walls and is built right up next to several others. This would also be an issue if the roof collapsed.

“It’s just hard to see what kind of domino effect might happen if there’s a major collapse of that roof,” he said.

Second Ward Councilor Larry Baker agreed.

“They are built right next to each other, and you don’t know what’s going to happen when you start taking things apart,” he said.

In addition, the building is part of one of the largest intact historic districts in the state, Baker said.

Baker had been down to a neighboring property because the neighbor could smell the mold from the next property.

“If there’s an odor to it, (mold spores) are there,” Sorensen said. However, he said the mold would need a soft, wet medium to take hold.

Sorensen said the former hobby shop had black mold toward the back of the property and damaged ceiling tiles. He did not go into the basement because he said the stairs did not appear safe, and they had a cant to them. However, he said the basement had several electronic items downstairs, which may have hazardous materials like lead and mercury in them, according to EPA and MPCA reports on electronic items.

Sundholm said he has contacted the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, who helped him contact an electronics recycler willing to take the remaining equipment.

“We’re going to be moving forward,” he said.