Agreement reached on Uniontown 'pigeon house'

Garth Meyer, Gazette Reporter | Dec 07, 20170

Uniontown has reached an agreement with the owners of an abandoned house to be torn down behind town hall. Known as the pigeon house, the structure was vacant for more than 10 years, as its owner, Margaret Huggins, listed it for sale.

Roach Construction of Genesee, Idaho, will tear it down this winter, to be paid for by Huggins, who lives in Weston, Ore.

“It’s all off the city’s hands,” said Brent Lane, Uniontown building inspector.

At a town council meeting in July, Marv Entel, the town’s former building inspector, called for the council to declare the building a public nuisance and remove it.

The tear-down cost is estimated to be a small increase over the $7,500 estimate Roach gave to the town in 2014 during a previous effort to take down the structure.

Gathered pigeons are seen perched and flying near the house, which sits on a slope just behind town hall. Inches of pigeon manure cover the lower level.

This summer, Uniontown Mayor Dave Jacobs directed Clerk-Treasurer Lynda Devorak to make contact with Huggins.

Lane contacted the previous bidders to ask if they would honor their 2014 proposals, perhaps with some adjustment.

The issue is not the birds themselves, but the droppings, and fungus that grows on it, which can spread disease.