Water leak and condition of the property annoy neighbors

BATON ROUGE – A house in the Gardere neighborhood is falling apart and the man next door says he's had enough.

The property is overgrown and now there is a water leak. Larry Stirgus has watched the property next to him slowly deteriorate.

“I’m just frustrated,” he said.

Stirgus says the person who lives in the house has no electricity. There is no meter and it hasn't been that way for years. He has watched people come and go from the house, rodents scurry about and the trees and grass in the backyard grow into a jungle.

Water is coming from the house. That's why Stirgus 2 On Your Side called – the water leak is the last straw.

“I think it's the sewerage because it's turning my concrete green,” he said.

After alerting his neighbor to the leak, Stirgus doesn't believe it will be fixed and fears he will have to endure the problem for a long time.

“She told me she would get a PVC pipe, run it around the leak in her driveway, run it out to the streets and have it drain there instead of in my yard,” Stirgus said.

The Town-Parish says there is a long history of zoning and building code violations at the Fountain Avenue address. Currently, the Town is pursuing ordinances to remove trash/garbage/debris and lawns. The permitting department has been to the house several times, most recently in February. They could not find any evidence that people lived there at the time, and it was reported for investigation as a structural dereliction due to its poor condition.

“I just can’t understand it,” Stirgus said.

The city says it will investigate again to see if anyone lives in the house. The Baton Rouge Water Company reports that there is no outstanding balance on the bill and there are no problems on the company's part.