Local motel described as ‘threat’ to community forced to shut its doors
A Miamisburg motel described as a “threat” to the welfare of the community has been forced to shut its doors.
On Monday morning, the City of Miamisburg filed an ex parte motion with the Montgomery County Common Pleas Court against the Rodeway Inn located on Byers Road, according to a release from the Miamisburg Police Department.
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The motion petitioned the court to find that the motel constitutes a public nuisance based upon “habitual, chronic criminal activity” associated with the property, a spokesperson for the police department said.
The city was granted a temporary injunction, which allows for the immediate closure of the motel. The spokesperson said this is because its operation presents an “immediate and ongoing threat to the health, safety and welfare of the community.”
Miamisburg police and city workers went door to door starting just after noon Monday. They told the people living at the motel that it was time to pack up and get out.
Jennifer Smith and her partner Mitchell have lived here more than seven years. The knock on their door turned their world upside down.
“Scared, freaked out, no idea what we are going to do at this point,” Smith said.
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The couple has 11 cats and is scrambling for a new home for them and the felines.
The same news was passed on all across the complex.
“They just knocked on the door and I was in the middle of cleaning up and they just said ‘You’ve got to get out,’” James McKenzie said.
McKenzie has only been here a couple of weeks after moving up Alabama.
He’d already made arrangements for a new place but admits this was not what he was expecting.
“Surprised? In a way, yes because I was looking to wake up, go to work, come home and cook dinner,” McKenzie said.
The manager of the Rodeway Inn did not want to speak with News Center 7 about the shutdown notice or what led to it.
“There was a high volume of calls for service to include criminal activity, crimes of violence, drug activity, trespassing complaints a whole range of criminal activity,” Miamisburg Officer Cindi Threlkeld said.
Miamisburg police told News Center 7 that this problem developed over two years and got worse in the last six months.
They brought social service agencies and the animal resource center with them to help residents, who they say deserve a better place and a safer environment.
“That’s a process and they are not going to give us time for that process, they are just saying get out,” Smith said.
Police believe the complex has 73 rooms and it looks like about 50 of them were occupied when the surprise eviction notice rolled in.
News Center 7 will continue updating this story as we learn more.
