Clarification: The original headline for this piece reflected a declaration as unsafe and dangerous. The motion for that failed for lack of a second and was replaced with a motion to table. Hutch Post regrets the error.
NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A building in Hutchinson will be allowed to stand and be fixed after more than two and a half hours of discussion by the Hutchinson City Council Tuesday evening, as the council tabled a motion that would have found the building at 3405 East 4th to be unsafe and dangerous.
The intent of the motion to table was to allow workers to shore up a damaged section of the building that collapsed in the spring and then go forward with further attempts at code compliance once that work is finished.
The council, at the suggestion of City of Hutchinson Building Official Jason Lady, will revisit the issue at their January 21, 2025 meeting to see if the building's tenant, Dan Rasure, who has a worm farm in the building, has been making satisfactory progress in the interim time.
The worm farm usage is not what it was approved to have when the Special Use Permit was issued on it in 2010 and it hasn't had a Certificate of Occupancy for at least four years. The council wants to see the code complied with, but they are trying to make every effort not to close a functioning business, if the repairs can be made.