City Orders Demolition of Unsafe & Long Vacant House on Wheeler Ave. 

A long-vacant house on Wheeler Ave. has been ordered to be torn down. The order after the Common Council voted unanimously to tear the green house at 5-7 Wheeler Ave. The house is best known for a police warrant nearly twenty years ago where almost 300 cats were found living in deplorable conditions.

Deputy Chief for the City of Cortland Fire Department, Derek Reynolds, told the Council that the Codes Department ended up using the police department’s drone to search the interior of the building for any unauthorized occupants inside due to the danger of the structural integrity of the building.

Council Member Wayne Schutt also added the building has been condemned several times and the city has gone to court multiple times with the property owner, Eugenia Cute. He says the property has junk, feces, items left over from squatters.

“It’s absolutely horrible, I think this is one of the best things we can do for this piece of property. It is a quality piece of property and the building’s a piece of junk. It’s no good for anybody being that it’s not safe.” states Schutt. “The last thing we want is a kid wandering in there and something happening.”

The City of Cortland says the city had posted and sent a notice of violation and order to remedy the house to Cute back on June 14th, 2023. The notice provided the owner with the particulars on why the building is considered dangerous and unfit for occupancy. That notice also ordered her to remedy the building back to code to which she did not do.

The City of Cortland has the right to tear down the property under the NYS Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law, Article 19-A and in section 104 within the City of Cortland Codes. 

As to who will bear the cost of the removal of the unsafe building, the city will levy the costs to the taxes on the property, which has a second building that Deputy Chief Reynolds says is in decent shape. Deputy Mayor Beckwith says the city will recoup the cost of the demolition one way or the other.

The unfortunate end for the house is the rich history it has endured. Previously owned by Benson and Carrie Wheeler, the street the house is on, Wheeler Ave, is named after. The house also previously served as a boarding home during the Wheeler’s ownership where Grace Brown resided, according to the Cortland County Historical Society. Grace Brown is known for the infamous Gillette murder case.

A date on when the demolition of the historic property was not given during the meeting, but due to its dangerous conditions is expected to take place in the near future.