Today is the last day for Charles Curtis to respond to the Lincoln County Health Department with a plan for remediation of the former Pine Tree Plaza building on Highway 2, which has been sitting mostly empty since a 2013 fire gutted the structure.

The Lincoln County Health Department issued an abatement order for Curtis to provide the remediation plan within 14 days. The abatement was delivered to him June 14. Curtis met the deadline, but Health Department Director Kathi Hooper said the plan he provided could not be approved.

“We have had several conversations with him, and he’s working to come up with a compliance plan that can be approved,” Hooper said.

Because he was working to comply, the deadline was extended to today, she said. If he comes to the department by today with a plan that seems approvable — even if he needs more time to refine and implement it — he could avoid further action from the county.

If Curtis misses the deadline, the abatement will go to the Lincoln County Attorney for legal action in Montana 19th Judicial District Court, Hooper said. It would be up to the court to decide what action would follow from there.

Hooper said the county could place a lien on the property to cover the cost of cleanup, but that the health department has only rarely had to take an abatement to that stage.

The abatement letter from the county notified Curtis that he was ordered to remove “the structure and all debris in a manner that protects public health and the environment and complies with all regulations regarding demolition and disposal.”

Reached Thursday for comment, Curtis said he may have a potential buyer for the contract he has to purchase the property from owner Tara Adams. Curtis expected to speak to him that evening.

If the other individual purchased the contract, he would agree to take down the building, Curtis said.

Finding a fix

At the regular meeting of the Troy City Council on June 20, Mayor Dallas Carr said that the city had asked the health department to take action after making multiple attempts over several months to come to an arrangement with Curtis for clean up.

The arrangement the city had contemplated would have seen Curtis losing a portion of the property in order to offset costs of tearing down and hauling away the building, Carr said.

“It’s an eyesore,” he said. “It has to go. It’s been five years now.”

The building is leaning against the fence of a neighbor’s yard, Carr said. That neighbor has to keep a rake in the yard for cleaning up debris that falls off of the building and onto his property.

“Every time the wind blows, he’s out there,” said Council Member T.J. Boswell.

“He has sweet kids — two little kids — and it’s getting unsafe,” Carr said.

Carr said that he and Council Member Chuck Ekstedt have both talked to Curtis multiple times over the course of months.

“We’ve given him options to have land to live on, a house to live in, and live out whatever he chooses to do,” Carr said. “We’ve given him several scenarios that would benefit him.”

Ekstedt said that Curtis has been presented with multiple options that would not cost Curtis anything.

After Curtis and the City were unable to come to a mutual agreement, Carr approached the Health Department to take action, he said.

“It’s time. The people don’t need to look at that anymore,” Carr said. “It’s unsafe. That’s the first thing. It’s unsafe.”

This Wednesday, during the most recent regular meeting of the City Council, Carr said there was the potential Curtis would let go of the property.

If that were to happen, it is possible the county would approach Adams with the options that Curtis rejected, he said.