Bee Investigator: Progress made on blighted McHenry Avenue property

After last week’s column about the questionable practices of some for-profit companies that operate used clothing collection bins, a reader wanted to know about one that collects books.

Modesto resident Peggy Kiser told me the bin is in a parking stall between the Costco and Lowe’s on Pelandale Avenue, so on Friday I went to check it out on my way to work.

Before I got there, however, something else caught my eye. It was a property on McHenry Avenue that I wrote about in October.

The former farm between the Lexus dealership and Roberts Auto Sales for months had been a dump site. Trash encircled two rows of apartments that for years had been homes to squatters and recently caught fire.

But on Friday, it was all gone, the buildings demolished, the trash hauled away.

The property owner, David Cervantes, had commissioned Modesto Sand and Gravel to do the work, and the company pulled a demolition permit Dec. 15.

Cervantes was a senior deputy city attorney for Modesto until his retirement in May. He specialized in land use and environmental law and also did civil litigation.

He didn’t return my calls when I wrote the first story and spoke to me only briefly when I contacted him last week about the cleanup.

“It’s cleaned up and taken care of,” he said, adding that he didn’t want to comment further when I asked him why it sat in a state of disrepair for so long.

When I asked Cervantes why he’d taken the property off the market – it was listed for $2.1 million in October – and what his plans are for the property, he said, “That’s confidential.”

Regardless of what sparked the cleanup – I checked with the county, and it wasn’t complaints – it’s well underway.

A row of five apartments and a parallel row of six apartments have been razed. The buildings were so old that a construction date isn’t listed in the property records.

Denny Ferreira, the county’s supervising building inspector, said the demolition permit also lists two septic tanks, which increased the price of the permit from about $70 to nearly $300.

Ferreira said the tanks can be removed or destroyed in the ground and filled with rock and soil.

Surrounded by dead orchards, a blue home that shares a fence with Roberts Auto Sales is the last structure that remains on the 9-acre property. A 1,200-square-foot “bunkhouse” is slated for demolition, so that could be it.

Ferreira said the permit is good for six months. Before it expires, building inspectors must determine that all the work was complete and that it was done correctly.

The property’s future might be “confidential” for now, but at least its present condition is a far cry from what it was just a month ago.

I snapped some photos of the evidence, then got back in my car and headed toward the donation bin Kiser told me about.

It’s owned by Discover Books, a for-profit company that is one of the largest sellers of used books on Amazon and other online retailers, according to a 2012 news release about its “rebranding efforts.”

“The company resells, donates or responsibly recycles used books to achieve its mission,” it reads.

The news release also states the company has donated more than 5.5 million books to libraries and charitable organizations.

No one from the company returned my phone calls to tell me whether any of the libraries or charities are based here in Stanislaus County or if the company gets permission from the owners of the properties on which its bins are located. Most of the clothing bin owners did not.

Discover Books does not have a local or state business license, which also was an issue for the city of Ceres on the matter of clothing bins.

If your primary goals are to clean out your bookshelf without simply trashing the books, then a drop-off bin might be for you.

If you don’t want a company to profit off your donations, though, a local library or charity would be the way to go.

My family recently donated a half-dozen bags of books to the Stanislaus Family Justice Center, which helps victims of domestic violence, child abuse and sexual assault.

Whatever you choose, I think it’s safe to say either option is better than a dumpster.

This story was originally published January 18, 2015 at 6:17 PM with the headline "Bee Investigator: Progress made on blighted McHenry Avenue property."