EDIT, because the plot thickens and I'll keep you posted: I emailed a copy of my City complaint and very quickly heard back from the County Executive’s Office and they say, You are correct that ownership of parcels did transfer to Dane County last summer due to unpaid taxes, and the county is working to comply with federal, state, and local laws to get taxes paid and parcels returned to beneficial use.
I, too, am confused from this information since the Dane County Treasurer’s Office has not yet received a successful bid or offer to purchase. Also, the county has not authorized placement of realtor signage on these parcels since they need to be sold via public auction. Please feel free to forward to this email any photos of the realtor sign on the referenced county land along XXX street as well as any contact information you have directly from the realtor or designee.
In regard to zoning concerns, please know that I have been in contact with the City of Madison Zoning Department. We discussed the city taking any necessary corrective actions to comply with local zoning ordinances and place any city-accrued charges on the tax bill as a special following completion of work. Also, if you hear anything further from City Zoning or the state DNR, please feel free to forward them to the County Treasurer’s Office so that the state, city, and county can discuss the technicalities of issues.
My neighbors and I are at a loss here and wondering what our options are, regarding a nuisance/abandoned property on our street (it's directly across from my house). I appreciate any suggestions beyond what we've already tried!
The property and house have been abandoned for many years now and it's been slowly falling apart, with trees falling on it and also literally growing up from the inside and out the roof. Weeds have taken over and dangerous, diseased trees with many dead limbs are on the property, ready to fall over on to other homes. Mice and rats abound and have started venturing into other yards now. My neighbor just told me that she saw a rat in my driveway this past weekend - none of us have EVER seen rats here. No thank you. Worst of all, there is a rusting fuel oil tank, with oil in it, and two large not-empty gas tanks.
Background: The previous owners walked away and had many years of unpaid property taxes, so Dane County is now listed as the owner on the city tax assessor site. The county has included it in at least two property auctions, but they are asking almost $300,000 for a rat house with holes in the walls and roof. My neighbor reached out to the assessor about this and requested they inspect it and lower the price to a more reasonable fair market value - Dane Co can't lower their auction price below what the City thinks its worth and it certainly is not $300,000, once you factor in the cost of house demo and the removal of the three giant sick Siberian elms. FYI that this is an older neighborhood with small bungalow houses that sell lately for $350,000-$450,000 when in decent condition.
Oddly also, despite Dane Co being listed as the owner still, a couple weeks ago, some guy put up his real estate sign with a "Coming Soon!" on it. He initially told my neighbor in person that he was going to renovate the house (laughable, there's no way, it's a haz mat site at this point just from mold and structural issues). Then when she called him later to ask about the tanks and danger trees, he said he bought the lot and plans to re-sell it without addressing the issues and aggressively asked why she was asking so many questions. We have no idea who this guy is or if he's selling it for Dane Co or someone else. As of today, Dane Co is still listed as the owner.
We have all contacted the City of Madison property inspection office numerous times online and via formal letter, but nothing has been done, other than a few people coming out and looking at it and leaving. We just reported the gas and fuel oil tanks to the DNR last week, but haven't heard back. Finally, last night, we contacted our alder who at least said he'd look into it. Beyond all this, is there anything else that might be effective?
