HUNTINGTON – The City of Huntington has filed a lawsuit against the owner of an abandoned industrial site following a Christmas Day fire that came two days after city officials had declared the property a public nuisance.
The city filed its civil lawsuit January 8 in Cabell Circuit Court against Everett Hannah Properties II LLC and Everett Hannah individually. The company owns the property in the 2400 block of 5th Avenue formerly home to Flint Group Pigments and, before that, BASF.
Flint closed the facility in 2017 because of a decline in demand for dye used in printing ink. There also was another fire at the plant in 2022. Also in 2022, the current owner allowed a company to enter the property to salvage. That operation included the removal of very large items such as conveyors and vats, which was accomplished by going through exterior walls of the buildings, “leaving gaping holes and causing partial demolition.”
According to the complaint, the fire began at the facility at 4:20 a.m. and rekindled later on Christmas evening.
After the Christmas fire, the state Department of Environmental Protection said it “did not observe any significant environmental impacts stemming from the fire, but will continue to coordinate with local fire authorities as the site is addressed.”
The city seeks an injunction saying the 10.58-acre property and the several industrial buildings located there are a public nuisance to the citizens that should be abated. It is zoned a heavy industrial site.
The complaint also mentions how Huntington City Council had declared the premises “a public nuisance and a hazard to the health and safety of the neighborhood and community at large” just two days before at a meeting.
“The City of Huntington has identified various activities and conditions as being nuisances and/or detrimental to the public welfare, including offensive littering, criminal trespass, damage to property, possession, manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance, criminal mischief, violations of housing codes, growth of weeds beyond 12 inches, accumulation of combustible materials and vacant, dilapidated and collapsing buildings,” the complaint states.
“At least two of the buildings … are unstable and actively collapsing. Several others have very large holes in the exterior walls, decreasing stability and leaving open access to trespassers. Hazardous material tanks still exist on the property. Copious amounts of debris and trash, including industrial debris, are littered throughout the property and within the open buildings, and the fence around the lot is not closed, making the entire property unsecure and easily accessible by transients. … The building damaged in the Christmas fire has since been knocked to the ground, but the debris remains.”
The city says cold weather will bring more transients to “seek shelter on this property and build warming fires, putting the structures at risk of yet another fire.” It asks for an injunction directing the owner to secure the property with adequate fencing, remove dilapidated and unsafe buildings, board and secure remaining buildings and abate the nuisance so it is no longer a danger to the public.
It also seeks another injunction requiring the defendants to remediate the nuisance by demolishing unsafe buildings, clearing the property of all hazards, securing the lot, boarding and securing all other buildings and other measures within 30 days of such an order being filed.
The city also says the defendants do not have liability insurance or property insurance coverage on the location and is “not adequately capitalized for the reasonable risks of owning a dilapidated industrial site, particularly one that is unsecure and attractive to trespassers.”
It says Hannah should be personal responsible for the abatement of the location. The city also seeks attorney fees, court costs and other relief.
The city is represented by Acting City Attorney Scott Damon, Assistant City Attorney Ericka B. Hernandez and Assistant City Attorney Sam Ransbottom. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Paul Farrell.
Cabell Circuit Court case number 25-C-4