The Board of Commissioners voted last week to set aside a nuisance ordinance against the Checkers company in January for two more weeks.

The extension comes after a Jan. 19 vote to make Duffy Development demolish an accessory building on the property in front of Home Depot on East Broad Street. The building was found not to be in compliance with the town’s code since the main building no longer is situated on the property.

“We feel that the dumpster area is not a nuisance,” Brian Konkol of the development company said.

Konkol said it would cost nearly $15,000 to clean up the old Checkers location and that doesn’t seem like an option for the company.

“That’s a lot of money,” he said to the commissioners.

Currently, the property is for sale and it would cost between $3,000 and $5,000 to demolish the accessory building. _ said the next property owner would just have to rebuild an area for a dumpster, so it doesn’t make sense to demolish it.

Still, it doesn’t look like a new tenant is coming soon. The main building was removed overnight and utility lines were left exposed, creating an eyesore.

“The property is hard to sell,” Konkol said. “If I knew the guy was going to leave (the property) that way, I would have called the police.”

After the building was removed from the site, the dumpster area was left without a gate and became filled up with trash, creating a health and safety hazard – thus the nuisance ordinance was voted on in January.

“The problem is the guy took (the gate),” Konkol said. “I told him to leave the gate and he took it.

“We really don’t feel like we’re responsible for citizens dumping stuff there.”

A contractor was hired to clean out the dumpster area, but quit early. Another contractor was hired, but never showed up on the job, leaving town workers to clean out the structure.

A bill for $1,300 was sent to Duffy Development, but as of last week, it hadn’t been paid.

“That’s taxpayers’ dollars,” Commissioner Cindy Sheldon said.

Konkol said the bill would be paid and he would like to put up a chain link fence around the area to keep anyone from dumping there.

The town’s lawyer, Mark Cumlander, said it has taken considerable effort to get to this point. If the town votes to go ahead with Konkol’s proposal in two weeks, it would be considered a non-conforming use structure.

Starting the budget process

Organizations looking for support from the town have to submit requests by March 6. Town Manager John Barlow said getting input and comments early is essential to helping the town set up the next fiscal year’s budget.

As part of the current budget, the town is studying how Fuquay employees’ pay stacks up among other towns its size. Sheldon asked that the study include a search on the benefits offered by other towns.

Contact Kelly Griffith at kgriffith@civitasmedia.com or 919-552-5675.