San Juan Bautista City Council members Monday ordered an abatement of the historic La Casa Rosa building on Third Street.
Council members voted unanimously on the matter after a report from Associate Planner Todd Kennedy, who noted how officials had recently met with State Sen. Anna Caballero on the matter since it’s an historic building under consideration.
“It was expressed by the senator and recommended by the senator that we actually go after the most severe of all the options,” Kennedy told council members.
La Casa Rosa is the pink building at 107 Third St., erected in 1870, next to Jardines de San Juan restaurant on historic Third Street in the Mission City. The city is claiming owners partially demolished the back portion of the property without a proper permit and that it is out of code compliance. Owners started the process of pursuing a permit, but never went through with it.
The city closed the sidewalk in front of the building last fall due to concerns about the front balcony’s stability.
San Juan Bautista officials needed to declare it a nuisance and start the abatement process in order to move ahead with repairs. That’s what they did Monday.
“Immediately after that, the city will remove and or set aside that balcony or shore it up,” City Manager Michaele LaForge said in a previous interview regarding the front of the building.
The city manager said issues with La Casa Rosa started in 2016. That’s when Greg and Christin Burda purchased the property.
Below are portions of Monday’s discussion on the La Casa Rosa issue. The story continues after the video.
Although it required an abatement process to get inside the building, the city did make observations interior observations before the declaration Monday. LaForge previously told San Benito Live the realtor and a potential buyer allowed the city to take body cam footage while touring the inside of the site.
While the La Casa Rosa is listed for sale at $400,000, LaForge estimated it would require about $500,000 in repairs. The Burdas have given no indication they plan to fix the building, and Mayor Cesar Flores has said the city expects to put a lien on the property for the next owner to ensure renovations are done appropriately.
The Burdas were not at Monday’s special council meeting to oppose the action or speak, while San Juan officials indicated the property had gone into foreclosure.
