Park Ridge to owners of fire-damaged former gas station: Tear it down or we will

Oct. 17--The city of Park Ridge plans to demolish a privately-owned former gas station that was gutted by fire in July if the property owners fail to do so within the next month, a city official said.

Jim Brown, director of community preservation and development for the city of Park Ridge, said owners of the former Marathon station at Northwest Highway and Oakton Street have been informed that the city will be taking steps to demolish the burned-out building and place liens on the property for the associated costs if the structure does not come down.

"We are pursuing demolition through legal means," Brown said.

A sign declaring the building at 969 N. Northwest Highway a hazard to the community has been placed on the property and a certified letter requiring remediation of the site was reportedly sent to Azim and Salim Hemani , representatives of the property owner, Raza Holdings LLC, on Oct. 15.

The letter is identified as a "final direct notice to remediate the hazardous conditions on the property" before the city takes action to do so.

In addition to demolition, removal of "garbage, debris and other hazardous, noxious, or unhealthy substances or materials" from the site is required, according to letter.

If the owners do not comply with demolition and clean-up within 30 days, the city will begin the process and "file a notice of high-priority lien against the property" for all expenses and legal fees, the letter states.

The estimated cost of demolition and cleanup is not yet known, Brown said.

"If there is no action on the site within a week or so, then we will start to get quotes from a few contractors for demolition and cleanup," he said Oct. 16.

The owners will have the option of contesting the city's demolition plan in court, Brown said.

A message left at the Hemanis' Raza Communications office in Chicago was not returned. The pair have not responded to previous requests for comment from the Park Ridge Herald-Advocate concerning 969 N. Northwest Highway.

The former Harvey's Marathon station, which had been vacant for several years, was heavily damaged when a fire broke out July 17. While fighting the blaze, the fire department learned the building had been packed with 45 tons of calcium peroxide, a hazardous material used for soil remediation, the department said.

Fire Chief Jeff Sorensen said the material, which had been placed in the building the day before the fire, reacted to the water that was being poured on the fire and made extinguishing it difficult.

A cause of the fire was not determined and Sorensen said fire investigators will not be entering the building due to the existence of the hazardous materials.

"If private investigators from an insurance company go out [to investigate], the fire department will most likely meet them out there, but we're not driving [the investigation]," Sorensen said.

A chain link fence surrounds the property, which consists of large containers marked "oxidizer." The old gas station and service center building is missing part of its roof, as well as the doors to the three work bays, and all windows and glass doors are broken out.

Due to the existence of hazardous materials on the site, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency had been overseeing cleanup of the site.

Kim Biggs, IEPA spokeswoman, said the agency did not find the property owners' plan for corrective action to be acceptable, and notices that the IEPA intends to pursue legal action to have the issues rectified were sent to the property owners and their consultant on Oct. 1.

"Illinois EPA does continue to monitor the site and conducted a visit last month," Biggs said.

The city also previously ordered the removal of calcium peroxide from the site, as well as demolition of the building, according to a copy of an Aug. 22 letter Brown said was sent to the property owners.

Brown said the owners had expressed interest in possibly reusing all or a portion of the old gas station structure, but no application for work was submitted.

"If they did want to keep a portion of the building, they would need to submit a study or statement from a structural engineer saying it was sound enough to use," Brown said.

Third Ward Ald. Gail Wilkening, who represents the area where the building is located, said she is "delighted" that the city is pursuing demolition, but cautioned that it does not mean the structure will necessarily be gone in 30 days -- particularly if the owners contest the remediation notice in court.

Some residents, she noted, have appeared "impatient" to see the building gone.

"People don't understand there's been stuff going on behind the scenes for a long time and the city was trying to get its proverbial 'ducks in a row' so the owners can't say we sprung this upon them, that we gave them notice," Wilkening said.

"Everyone wants that thing gone -- no one more than me," she added.

jjohnson@chicagotribune.com

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