Michigan_Ave_industrial_complex.jpg

An industrial and commercial complex on Michigan Avenue housed immigrants in 2013.

(Tom Perkins | For The Ann Arbor News)

In late 2013, a dramatic multi-agency raid on a makeshift Ypsilanti Township industrial and commercial complex revealed the building was home to Mexican immigrants and multiple illegal businesses. Two years later, after a lengthy legal process, the property is once again being used for its intended purposes -- cold storage.

The Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the township conducted the raid in December 2013 after authorities learned it was housing 15 legal immigrants in dangerous conditions.

Officials also found 20 businesses operating illegally and scattered throughout eight buildings in the 26,000-square-foot complex on Michigan Avenue just east of Ford Boulevard.

The township fire marshal labeled it a "death trap" and building inspectors documented "countless" serious code and fire violations they say constituted life safety threat.

Those conditions and zoning violations led the township to sue the property owner, Charles Chatfield. Chatfield claimed he didn't know 15 people were living on his property. In January 2015, a judge ordered Chatfield to dismantle the complex and return it to cold storage within a year.

Mike Radzik, Ypsilanti Township's director of the office of community standards, said that work is completed, but the township is monitoring the property because issues with Chatfield date back to 2001. At that time, he began putting illegal additions on the original building and the township took him to court. A Circuit Court judge ordered Chatfield to obtain all the proper permits and approvals for the additions, which he did, Radzik said. But the illegal additions regenerated and new businesses appeared.

The township also had evidence that people were living at the site throughout the five years leading up to the raid.

"So far we don't have cause for any additional enforcement. However, because of the long history of zoning violations and unauthorized uses, we are diligently monitoring the property to ensure Chatfield is complying with the court order," Radzik said. "If we run into a problem, we will not hesitate go back to court to enforce the court order."

If Chatfield violates the order, he could be found in contempt and face jail time and/or be required to demolish the buildings. He couldn't be reached for comment.

Among other issues township inspectors documented in 2013 were illegally built apartments heated with deep fryers, live electrical wires dangling from the ceiling just feet above shower heads; additions put onto buildings without permits; and people living next to and in auto repair shops.

Makeshift furnaces were installed in the facility; open flames were used around flammable material; serious electrical violations were found throughout the building; 55-gallon drums leaked oil outside the buildings; and around 20 "serious" fire hazards were detailed.

Tom Perkins is a freelance reporter for The Ann Arbor News.