Neighbors give thumbs up as Bedford crews demolish illegal housing in this back yard
With a few well-timed strikes from the bucket end of a track hoe, crews hired by Bedford city officials on Tuesday morning began demolishing several tiny and illegally-built homes in the back yard of an otherwise quiet neighborhood.
The large excavator machine first knocked down part of a back yard fence at the home in the 3000 block of Glenwood Court, a cul-de-sac near the Bedford-Colleyville border where neighbors for years had complained about unsafe conditions and unsanitary smells.
Once the fence was down, the machine then rolled into the back yard on its military tank-like tracks, and its operator began using the machine’s long arm-like extension to whack the small buildings to the ground.
Within about 30 minutes, the first two structures and a small recreational vehicle had been reduced to big piles of rubble, and at least four other small buildings awaited the same fate. Despite the speed of the demolition, city officials said they expected they would be working at the scene for several days to ensure it is fully cleaned and made safe.
Several neighbors stopped by to shoot video of the demolition from a nearby sidewalk, and multiple passing motorists offered a thumbs-up gesture to police and code enforcement officials on the scene.
“You could sometimes smell it from where I live,” James Murr, who lives about a block away, explained as he stopped briefly to watch the demolition. “It smelled like a landfill.”
According to Tarrant Appraisal records, Sachin Gupta now owns the home. Records also indicate that his father, Chandra, owned the property before 2018.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram contacted Chandra Gupta, but a man who answered the phone said Gupta moved to India and hasn’t dealt with the property for a long time. When asked if he was a relative or friend of Gupta, the person hung up.
The Guptas were named in a lawsuit for allowing unsafe conditions at 3009 Glenwood Court, and ordered by the court in February to demolish the buildings and to have the tenants move out “immediately.”
The suit alleged that the Guptas had repeated zoning, health and safety code violations, which included open sewage pits and dangerous electrical wiring where extension cords with open splices were strung between the buildings.
According to Bedford’s lawsuit, ownership was transferred between Gupta and his son, Sachin, so that officials couldn’t move forward with code enforcement actions.
The Guptas built several structures, including enclosing a gazebo built over an empty swimming pool that he leased to tenants, according to the lawsuit. There were also coverings over two recreational vehicles where people were living, according to court documents.
Chandra Gupta, who was given until March 8 to get rid of the buildings and clean up the property, had represented himself in court.
He said in an email to the Star-Telegram that he would appeal his case to the 2nd Court of Appeals, but the court responded that his appeal notice was “defective.”
In a March 12 letter written to the 67th District Court, Chandra Gupta wrote, “ENOUGH.”
His letter also stated, “Why does the court not see it???????????????? I TOLD YOU THAT SO MANY TIMES, WHAT IS THE PROBLEM? I AM NOT A PARTY TO THIS CASE, YOU CAN BULLDOZE THE PROPERTY, OK? I am going to block you from sending me emails!”
The Guptas said they are both living in California.
Bedford city officials said the Guptas were not at the property on Monday or Tuesday. On Monday, to prepare for demolition, city officials used a search warrant to gain access to the property and make sure no residents were still living in the collection of small homes before bringing in the heavy equipment for the job.
City officials who toured the small homes before the demolition found evidence of poor construction, trash and debris left behind by the former occupants, city spokeswoman Molly Fox said. Photos taken by city employees showed ample evidence of human habitation in the small structures — including an exercise machine and pillows in the corner of one room, a coffee pot still on a stove, a mattress with a fitted sheet still on it and pantry shelves with household cleaning products and paint cans.
The crews brought in by the city worked for JR’s Demolition of Irving.
The estimated cost of the demolition is $40,000, a city official said. Typically, when a local government takes such as action against a homeowner in Texas, the government pays the cost but then bills the property owner, and places a lien on the property so that it can’t be sold until the debt is paid.
The original, two-story home at 3009 Glenwood Court is expected to remain standing. The home was built on Glenwood Court in 1977, according to Tarrant Appraisal District records.
The 2,800-square-foot home features a combination of wood and tile exterior walls, as well as a tile driveway, several yard statues and at least two dozen planting pots in the front yard.
Bedford’s mayor, Michael Boyter said, “There are a lot of happy people out here today.”
“People (city employees and neighbors) have dealt with this situation for decades,” the mayor said.
When asked about the tenants who were living in squalid conditions, Boyter said the city posted numerous notices concerning the demolition to make sure people knew they had to find other places to live.
“We (the city) were able to develop relationships with some of them,” he said.
After interview with former tenants at the property and a neighborhood mail carrier, city officials believe that 10 people were living in the back yard structures prior to the lawsuit that forced them to relocate.
“It appears to have varied between 8-12 individuals over the years,” Andrea Roy, Bedford development director, said in an email.
This story was originally published March 16, 2021 at 2:22 PM.
