‘Flagrant attempt to bypass the law;’ Troy property owner starts demo on building without approval

A property owner in Troy allegedly started demolition on their property without permission from the city Wednesday morning.

The property in question is listed at 112-118 W. Main Street.

“The City did not and has not authorized any demolition of any part of that structure,” Troy Mayor Robin Oda said in a statement posted to social media Wednesday morning.

>> PHOTOS: Troy property owner starts demo without city approval

Oda went on to say that the city has issued a stop work order and a injunction was being filed in Miami County Common Pleas Court by the Law Director.

News Center 7′s Mike Campbell spoke to Julie McMiller, the secretary of a nonprofit called the Troy Historical Preservation Alliance (THPA), said the owner started demolition around 3 a.m. on Wednesday.

McMiller said the THPA has been fighting the proposed demolition of the the building on W. Main Street for three years.

“It has a very high historic significance. It was our third courthouse for the county and it has huge significance for the black community,” McMiller said.

THPA claimed one of the three interconnected buildings helped liberated slaves get paperwork documenting them as free individuals.

A new owner bought the building in 2018 and planned to demolish it after it was damaged by a tornado in 2020. He was granted permission by the city’s Zoning Commission and then the Board of Zoning Appeals.

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“They voted four to three in both of those forums to tear the building down, to allow the demolition to go forward and we took it to court in Miami County and we won,” McMiller said.

The building owner appealed that decision and the THPA won the case less than a week ago in the Second District Court of Appeals in Montgomery County, but the owner believed he had permission from Miami County and the city to take the building down after it was storm-damaged again over the weekend.

Patrick Titterington, Troy’s Director of Public Services and Safety, said he made it “quite clear” that the owner didn’t have approval to start the construction. He said he learned of the early-morning demolition work and walked over to the site, giving workers an oral stop work order. The owner ignored it until the city’s law director obtained the injunction.

“There was some miscommunication or misinterpretation or difference of opinion,” Titterington said.

McMiller called the owner’s action to tear down the building without authorization a “flagrant attempt to bypass the law and take down one of the most historic buildings in downtown Troy.”

In a hearing held Wednesday afternoon, a Miami County Judge Stacy Wall said she would issue a ruling on the whether or not to extend the stop demolition injunction later in the day.

News Center 7 also learned that the building owner will be back in court on Friday for a contempt hearing because of this issue.