Two years after fire in which 30 dogs died, kennel near Carol Stream now a vacant lot

Scarred by fire, the old kennel near Carol Stream had stood as a sad reminder of a blaze that killed nearly 30 dogs two years ago this month.

It's now a vacant lot after DuPage County officials intervened to ensure the charred remains of the buildings on the site were torn down in December. The demolition clears the way for potential development of the highly visible property near the northeast corner of North Avenue and County Farm Road.

"It's a tragedy what occurred there, and hopefully out of that tragedy, we will spawn something good happening there," said Paul Hoss, the county's planning and zoning administration coordinator. "But at least we've got the building down and cleaned up, which is the most important thing right now."

The January 2019 fire revealed what DuPage County prosecutors called "cruel and inhumane conditions" inside the kennel.

The operator, Garrett Mercado, was charged with 28 misdemeanors - 14 counts of animal cruelty and 14 counts of violation of owner's duties.

Mercado is set to stand trial in May. Most of the continuances in the case were granted at the request of his attorney, while several other delays stemmed from the COVID-19 pandemic, court records show.

The county, meanwhile, compelled the property owner to raze the structures and rid the unincorporated site of an eyesore.

"It was dilapidated. It was unsafe. The buildings were open. Anybody could go in there," Hoss said.

County officials can use multiple code enforcement mechanisms to try to bring blighted properties into compliance. Typically, the county sends a violation notice to an owner to clean up the property.

If properties are still noncompliant, ordinance violations come before an administrative hearing officer, who will render a decision. If that effort fails to gain compliance, the county can take the property owner to court through DuPage's Neighborhood Revitalization Program, also known as a "clean and lien" initiative.

The program enables county public works crews to step in and do the demolition and cleanup work. Property owners are charged for the bill, and if it isn't paid, the county puts a lien on the property.

"By the time we had gotten the summons ready to go out for circuit court, the property had changed hands," Hoss said of the kennel site, which was bought by the owner of a fencing company immediately to the south.

The county ultimately didn't have to go through the court system to have the kennel structures demolished, Hoss said. It was the "fence company people" that cleaned it up, he said.

"I think all of that process made the property owner realize that this was going to happen," Hoss said. "Either the county was going to do it or he was going to do it, so that's what I think enticed him to do it himself."

The vacant lot is primed for the kind of development seen on the opposite corner of North Avenue and County Farm. That property was annexed into the village of Carol Stream and redeveloped into a multi-tenant commercial building with a Dunkin' Donuts.

"It's the same-sized property, so you could do something to what you have across the street," Hoss said.

The kennel site is contiguous to Carol Stream's boundaries. The village has not received any phone calls or applications regarding the redevelopment of the property, according to Community Development Director Don Bastian.

Hoss said there's a possibility of redeveloping the kennel and the fence company sites together.

"We've got several people that we have talked to about possibly coming and doing some things there, but so far no one's coming to see us about it."