EDWARDSVILLE - Edwardsville City Council members approved the proposal to demolish the house at 320 Pine Street in Edwardsville during Tuesday night's council meeting.
With the Public Works Department having dealt with the house for the past seven years, the motion was unanimously passed as neighbors and council members voiced their concerns with the structure. 
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One of the issues causing concern with the surrounding residents has been the presence of rodents that have been making the home their own.
City Attorney Jeffery S. Berkbigler said the property has been posted as occupancy prohibited since January of last year.
"There's foundation settling. It's in bad shape structurally," Berkbigler said. "Cosmetically, obviously it's not in very good shape but structurally it's leaning quite a bit. There's sagging on the foundation. Interior walls are sagging inside. We feel it's a property that really does need to be demolished."
Berkbigler said that hopefully the process will move along quick but if the demolition is contested it could take around six to nine months.
Once the house is demolished the city would have a lean on the property for the costs of the demolition.
However the Mt. Olive Church next door has show interested in the property to extend their parking, but the council said that's something that would be considered later down the road as public safety is the primary concern at the moment.
Mayor Hal Patton said projects like these can take a while to accomplish but are taken very seriously by the city.
"We usually have multiple departments working on it," Mayor Patton said. "A lot of times it's public works through property maintenance. It's also police and fire to make sure that nobody is entering the facility, except for of course rodents. But we try to keep our eye on these as closely as possible."
Mayor Patton said the city is fortunate to not have a lot of properties in this condition but it can take a while to get to the this point in the process.
