Two adjacent dilapidated, vacant buildings erected more than a century ago were condemned recently by the Chickasha City Council.
One is a 782 squa re-foot structure at 514 S. 18th Street that was built in 1918, and the other is an 828 square-foot structure at 512 S. 18th Street which was built in 1920.
Property taxes of $143 were paid on the o lder of the two houses in October 2024 and April 2025, but no ad valorem taxes were paid on the other structure in either year, Grady County Treasurer’s records reflect.
In three years the city’s Community Development Division opened nine separate cases on each of the properties, Director Jessica Green told the council. Over a 38-month period the property owner was granted several extensions to renovate the property and was given several opportunities to secure permits to repair the buildings but never did, records show.
During those three years there were multiple instances when trash accumulated on the property, suspicious vehicles parked there, and vagrants took up residence in at least one of the ho uses, Green said.
“Neighbors stopped me and complained about homeless people going in and out at all hours of the night and day,” a city code enforcement officer wrote.
The city employee also reported that “now there are instances of the homeless going on the neighbors’ properties, stealing and taking back to the vacant houses…” Green declared that both properties were “detrimental to the health, benefit, and welfare of the public” because of their severely deteriorated condition and potential fire hazard.
“These two houses absolutely pose health and safety issues,” Police Chief Goebel Music told the council. Both are “unsecure, the walls are sagging, and the roof could fall in on some body at any time.”
The council upheld Green’s ruling and condemned the properties for demolition.