PRESCOTT – The Prescott City Council received a petition at its meeting Monday night from neighbors of the blighted former Croixdale Hospital, 445 Court St.

City officials reported that they are meet ing next week with the property owner and have already started proceedings to make sure the property is taken care of. If not, the city council could act to have the building razed.

The property was purchased by Hearth Development of St. Paul for $272,000 in 2019. The company’s plans to develop the vacant building into an assisted living facility have been scrapped, and the property is for sale. That year, Greg Johnson of Hearth Development contacted the city to see if there were any financing options available to raze the structure and construct a new building on the 2.24-acre site.

Now, the site has allegedly become home to drug activity at the neglected property.

Mark Most, 507 Court St., said that the condition of the property has gotten worse, and he’d like to see the city take action.

Most said it’s not just that the grass isn’t regularly cut and the property cleaned up.

“There’s quite a bit of police activity there,” he said. “We are concerned about our safety. The police officers have been there to day, and they were there Friday or Saturday. Last fall, one of the police officers flushed four people out of the building. They tackled one of them, and three ran through our yard. It’s kind of startling.”

Most said he’d like to see exterior doors at least painted and the building adequately secured.

“What we’re really hoping for in the neighborhood is that they mow it, cut all trees and brush and paint areas of it,” he said. “I know the building is kind of out of sight, out of mind, but the neighbors see it.”

If the owners won’t do it, Most asked the city to step in and bill them as ordinances allow.

“Any help you can give, I’d appreciate it. It’s kind of depressing when you drive by it,” he said.

Alderperson Bailey Ruona, who lives in the neighborhood, concurred.

“I can completely second everything you’ve said,” she commented. “I would like to see that thing locked up.”

She said that officers patrol the area hourly overnight to make sure no one is on the property.

“We started doing some ordinance stuff against it,” she said.

City Administrator Matt Wolf said the owners were billed because of a cleanup project in early May. A code enforcement letter was sent May 23, giving the property owner until June 22 to clean up the property.

“If that’s not cleaned up, at our next council meeting we can move forward with a raze order to have the building torn down,” said Wolf.

Wolf said city staff are meeting with the property owner.

Said Alderperson Thomas Oss, “This has been going on for years. We need to take the gloves off.” Alderperson Darlyn Hintz agreed. “You need to feel safe in your home,” she said.

Crazy About Baseball water request

Mayor Rob Daugherty said he expected to see representatives from Crazy About Baseball at the meeting, but no one attended from the organization, which oversees Firehall Field.

Daugherty said the city gave the group 500,000 of gallons for use on Firehall Field at no charge, and the group has asked for an additional free 500,000 gallons.

“They seem to think the city promised them 1 million gallons,” he said. “They got 500,000 gallons. They’ve used that. I said no.”

“One day down the road, someone is going to say we want some free water. You gave Crazy About Baseball free water,” said Daugherty.

He said that it also puts the city in a difficult position, considering it is having to finance a reverse osmosis system to remove nitrates from water at its Well No. 3.

“It wouldn’t look good if we’re giving away water like it’s coming out of our ears,” he said. “As it stands right now, they’re not going to get any more water for free.”

Daugherty said he spoke with previous Mayor David Hovel who recalls a verbal agreement for 500,000 gallons for free to help get the renovated field ready for play.

Daugherty said the 500,000 gallons was used in one quarter.

“They water twice a day sometimes,” he said.

The property is owned by the Prescott School District. City Clerk Jayne Brand said the school district pays to water at the football stadium. She put the cost of 500,000 gallons of water at $1,400.

Alderperson John Peterson pointed out that Crazy About Baseball does a lot for the community.

“This is a non-profit organization that brings a lot of people into the city. It does bring commerce to the city. I think you have to look at that in a little different light,” he said.

Alderperson Maureen Otwell pointed out that the city granted a license to the organization to sell beer at adult baseball games to help bring revenue to the group.

“We already gave them a permit to sell beer. They are getting income,” she said.