The owners of the property adjacent to Tracy’s community center-inprogress on South St. last Friday emailed a signed cease and desist order to City officials, claiming the contractors and sub-contractors have been trespassing and contaminating their property, just to the west of the building.
The order states that both David Anderson and George Tanguy attended the April 13 city council meeting to express their concerns to include evidence of trespassing and documentation. The City scheduled a closed meeting April 17 to discuss the matter further amongst the council.
The property owners say they have only received two emails of communication — dated April 16 and April 20 — regarding their concerns. The only email response they say they received, and responded to, was April 20, with no response back as of April 24.
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continued on page 9 Anderson and Tanguy say they filed a formal complaint with the Tracy Police Department and personally handed their complaint to Police Chief Jason Lichty on April 13, with no response regarding the trespassing and their property rights, according to the order.
Demands contained in the letter direct the City to immediately stop entering or accessing the property without the owners’ explicit written consent cease and desist any ongoing or planned activities on their property; provide written confirmation within 10 days that the City will comply with this notice; sign a Temporary Construction Easement (TCE); provide a liability insurance waiver making the contractors and their subcontractors responsible for any workplace related injuries while working on the property; and identify any legal authority (easement, warrant, court order, etc.) the City claims it is permitted entry, if applicable.
“We were wiling to sign the (TCE),” Tanguy said, “we’ve been saying that since day one. The (City) just wants to keep moving forward with violating our property rights and dismissing the police reports that we submit.”
In an April 25 email to the City, Anderson and Tanguy contend demo roofing debris can be found in the grass and trees at the property — “tiny Styrofoam chunks of debris” could be found “all over the property in the grass,” as well as “steel strap binding” and “soup can lids,” the statement read.
The second email also confirms that the two have parked “two trailers and two pieces of ag equipment on the lot,” which, they say, is where the demo roofing debris can be found.
“They were tearing off that roof on a Monday, Tuesday and a Wednesday — some of the windiest days in town … we already don’t want them trespassing on our property, and now all of the construction debris from the roof blew onto our property,” Tanguy said. “Now they’re trespassing on our property because they’re picking up the big chunks, but they don’t pick up the small chunks.”
The fact that the contractor did not keep the debris within the scope of the project, drove Tanguy to file the cease and desist order with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
“Now we have a contaminated site,” said Tanguy. “We were asking for a TCE, and we’re the bad guys because we say, ‘What about our (expletive) property rights?’ What about the debris?”
Ankeny Building out of Blue Earth was hired by the City as the primary contractor for the project. Anderson and Tanguy allege that the City “has provided minimal conversation with us and is not cooperative with our concerns during the scope of this construction project.”
In an April 27 letter to Tanguy and Anderson, Ankeny Builders said it took the matter of debris seriously and operates with respect for adjacent property owners and established project limits. It said no construction activities have been performed on the adjacent property, although it did acknowledge lightweight debris was blown from the work site onto the property on one occasion.
When that happened, the crew briefly entered the area “solely to retrieve the material. We took immediate steps to address the situation and have reinforced leases to secure the site and prevent re-occurrence,” the letter stated.
Concerning a TCE, Ankeny said that based on the verified project limits and absence of any construction activity on the nearby property, neither it, nor a provision of insurance documentation are not applicable.
Ankeny requested that Tanguy or Anderson contact the company directly going forward if any futher concerns arise so they can be addressed with efficiency. Ankeny’s wish is to maintain a single point of contact to ensure effective communication in the future.
It is Tanguy’s intent to build an outdoor storage facility on his property; he said he initially had planned to turn the ADO building into an indoor storage facility before the building was sold to the City. He is now focusing on an outdoor facility for his piece of land next to the community center.
