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Dec 1, 2008 4:12 pm US/Central
Destroyed Building Center Of Landmark Controversy
DALLAS (CBS 11 News) ―
Some vacant apartments at the center of a Dallas landmark controversy have burned down. Nonetheless, city hall is moving ahead with changes to keep similar issues from flaring up.
Two mounds of debris are all that's left of two vacant buildings in the historically-sensitive Winnetka Heights neighborhood. Debate over whether one of them was a landmark went on for months. In the end, the nuisance of being vacant property brought them both down.
The fire on Thanksgiving Eve was so intense, neighbors worried their homes would burn down too.
"It was just horrifying," said Winnetka Heights resident Michael Knight. He claims the fire was deliberately set by homeless people rousted out of the buildings earlier by police.
Investigators have ruled the fire as arson, but no arrests have been made.
Sometime over the holiday, what was left was bulldozed. This is exactly what some people wanted to do back in 2005 when one of the aging structures was first struck by fire.
Though not habitable, it was protected as a landmark because of its location in Winnetka Heights. Whether the apartment was an attractive nuisance or historically significant spurred months of debate, and now a revised demolition ordinance is in the works.
The proposed language gives more power to city courts and the fire marshal over demolition in historic districts. But the landmark commission still has final say.
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