By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

            A dilapidated business building with safety issues on West Noble Ave. will get immediate attention through Williston’s code enforcement process rather than using a proposed abatement ordinance advocated by City Manager Jackie Gorman.

            Gorman talked at length during the Feb. 16 meeting about the difficulty she was having getting cooperation from businessman Michael Pesso to clean up structural problems and code violations on the vacant Pesso’s Antiques and Pawn store next door to the former Williston High School property.

            She said a hole in the roof and a rickety exterior stairway are two of the problems that may pose a public safety risk. She suggested the problem could be addressed through adoption of an abatement ordinance that would help the city deal with abandoned buildings that pose safety problems.

            However, council members wanted to address the problem immediately through the existing code enforcement process, and as it turned out, Gorman said, the city’s codes already allow the city to deal with unsafe buildings like Pesso’s.

            “I didn’t realize we had a code that was spot on regarding unsafe buildings,” Gorman said.

            Councilman Elihu Ross, senior member of the council, was the first to raise questions about the building’s structural issues at the council meeting, saying the wooden structure attached to the back of Pesso’s Antiques and Pawn, which he said was once an apartment, looked like it could collapse.

            “It looks like it’s sitting there just waiting to fall,” he said.

The front of the building still bears the name of Pesso’s Antiques and Pawn but Gorman said the entire building is one piece and all of it has code violations. She said she hasn’t had any success working with Pesso.

            “As you know my conversations with Mr. Pesso are getting nowhere. No matter how hard I reached out I can’t seem to get any cooperation in any way with him,” Gorman said.

            Gorman said city inspectors for code enforcement, building, and fire will be asked to examine the building and identify code violations including structural defects like the hole in the roof and the rickety outside staircase before deciding the next step.

            The building has been abandoned for many years.

            The staircase played a role in the events surrounding the death of Williston Police Officer David Moss in July 1988. Moss was pursuing a suspect when he entered the alley between what later became Pesso’s and a neighboring building. Moss was shot dead by the 19-year-old man he was pursuing when he was ambushed in tall grass at night. The dying officer managed to shoot his assailant to death before he fell.

            Police Chief Dennis Strow said the staircase played a role in the investigation. When Police Officer Bruce Snyder arrived to investigate what happened to Moss, he climbed the staircase to get a better look at the alley between the buildings and saw Moss’s flashlight. The bodies of Moss and the assailant were found nearby.

            Strow said he has served the city for a decade and the Pesso’s building has been vacant since that time.

            Gorman said BluRock Commercial Real Estate Development reached out to Pesso when they were securing property for the future shopping center. The shopping center is being constructed at the site of the former Williston High School. She said BluRock wasn’t able to work out anything with Pesso.

            As an aside, Gorman said the city hasn’t received any new information from BluRock regarding other businesses that may want to locate in the future shopping center. She said Popeye’s Restaurant has been constructed and Tractor Supply has submitted its site plan but other than those two businesses she hasn’t heard anything more from BluRock.

            The shopping center development has no formal name as yet.

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 City of Williston Regular Meeting February 16, 2021; Posted February 26, 2021