IMPERIAL BEACH, Calif. — The City of Imperial Beach is suing to have a house in Imperial Beach cleaned up.
Overgrown grass and brush, boarded up windows, dog feces inside and it stinks. That's what neighbors and a new lawsuit from the City of Imperial Beach said is happening here at this home on Oneonta Avenue.
The city is suing to get the home cleaned up.
Dennis Hastings lives near this house on Oneonta Avenue in Imperial Beach and says this house has got to go.
"They didn't take care of the animals. And there was no water throughout the house. They let animals run throughout. He was handicapped and he couldn't get around," Hastings said.
No one has lived in this house at 1025 Oneonta Avenue since 2021.
"It's horrendous,” Hastings shared emphatically. “They had a rottweiler in there. He did his thing inside. He didn't bring him outside because he was too big to handle so he just stayed inside. It was bad. Finally, The Humane Society came and took the dog."
Neighbors who are already dealing with a pretty stinky situation coming from the Tijuana River say this house doesn't help the situation.
"I haven't seen anyone over there other than the city of IB. They'll mow the grass and secure it to keep the riff raff out at night," Hastings said.
Court documents show the owner, Kathleen Taylor died years ago and neighbors said her son, was supposed to be living there. But he hasn’t lived here in years.
"He lived by himself so no one was taking care of him or the house. So eventually they moved him to a convalescent and that's the last I heard of him. The city put a lien on it I guess. They've done some maintenance to it but it still needs some help. I'm surprised they didn't just tear the house down," Hastings said.
The lawsuit says back in 2021, The Humane Society removed a dog from the property for emergency boarding and found feces throughout the interior.
The City of Imperial Beach says in its lawsuit, that the property has extensive code violations that endanger the health and safety of the public.
We reached out to the City of Imperial Beach for comment on this story and they sent a statement to CBS 8 that said,
“The City is taking action throughout the court system to resolve a code enforcement case on a substandard property within the City. The City has been using code enforcement tools for violations at the property consistently for the last few years and hopes that filing the court action will resolve the matter expeditiously.”
Hastings said, "I hope somebody buys it and just totally remodels it. That's what I hope for."
The lawsuit lists the owner as deceased and they're looking for a receiver to be appointed to take care of the house.
Neighbors who didn't want to go on camera said that the man who lived here had health issues and this is all just a sad situation.
They also said the house is attracting squatters, further complicating the problem that they hope the city can fix soon.