Over three months after city of Federal Way officials ordered the demolition of a burned commercial building, the scorched structure and ensuing debris still remains due to legal delays.

The building in the 29200 block of Pacific Highway S. housed businesses Sin on Skin Tattoo and Body Piercing, Awards by Wilson and unoccupied business All Martial Arts Supplies, before an illegal marijuana grow operation caught fire and damaged the building in October. Police confiscated 500 marijuana plants from the building’s basement during the investigation.

City officials hoped to demolish the building by May. However, the property owner is pursuing legal means to halt the demolition until he can resolve some insurance issues, said Michael Morales, director of the city’s Community Development Department.

“If we could move faster, we would. But we have to follow the letter of the law to do that,” Morales said. “The good news is, yes, we are following every step in the process. The last thing we want to do is to make a technical error on the process and his due process and rights that allows him to leave that building as it is for another year because we’ve got to go back and start things over again.”

Neither the property owner Pete Sikov of Columbia City Associates, LLC, nor his attorney Douglas Hiatt responded to the Mirror’s request for comment.

Morales said the illegal marijuana operation that caused the fire is also causing complications with the Sikov’s insurance coverage.

“At least that’s been cited to us in the hearing and that they’re still negotiating on what they may be willing to pay or not as it relates to abatement and a rebuild,” Morales said.

However, the city has yet to see any of Sikov’s documentation from the insurance company, he said.

“So they’re being non-responsive and that doesn’t bode well going into (the next) hearing,” Morales said, noting another appeal hearing for the property is set for Aug. 13, when the city’s hearing examiner will decide on whether to carry out the abatement process.

Nevertheless, Morales said it doesn’t matter whether or not Sikov’s insurance will pay for a rebuild because the building’s foundation doesn’t meet city code.

“So the whole place needs to go. That building’s got to go, the foundation’s got to go, it’s all got to be out of there and if you want to list the lot for sale then you can go ahead and do that,” he said.

He said trash and other debris have also accumulated on the site and the city is “at a point where we may just start to stack up violations. Let’s open a new case on the trash, let’s open a new violation order on the things that weren’t there when we started this process and make him pay. That’s just the bottom line.”

Morales said he is hopeful the hearing examiner will rule in the city’s favor and “we will not grant anymore than the minimum time required to have the building abated.”

If the city wins the appeal, Sikov would have up to 30 days to demolish the property.

“At that point, it’s up to us,” Morales noted if the property owner does not demolish the property himself. “We can go back in and get a judge’s order following that timeframe and be ready to go.”

The city would then have the authority to pursue the owner to recover the cost of demolition, which costs approximately $25,000.