By Kevin Lavery, WKAR News
EAST LANSING, MI – The city of Lansing will begin clearing debris from the site of a south Lansing furniture store that burned to the ground in May. Owner Dave Sheets had filed a temporary restraining order on July 2 to keep the city from clearning up the remains of Discount Dave's Buy-Rite store.
But Monday, Ingham County Circuit Judge William Collette formally dissolved that order. Lansing officials concluded the fire was deliberately set. Sheets says his own private investigator and two insurance companies have concluded that the fire was unintentional. Attorney Charles Ford represents Dave Sheets.
"The thing that we don't have to have occur is that we've got a bid at $58,900 for a cleanup. We don't want the city to move forward at the tune of $200,000, which takes money away from my client," he says.
Ford says the city's findings prevented the release of insurance funds that could have been used to clear the site weeks ago. Cleanup may begin as early as Tuesday. City officials estimate it may cost $125,000 or more.