The city of Coos Bay has imposed fines on the owner of an unfinished building on North Broadway.

The property, owned by Bay Cities Building Co. of Coos Bay, is intended to be the future home of KDCQ radio. But construction ground to a halt after the developer poured a new foundation last year.

“The economy was a factor,” said Stephanie Kilmer, general manager of the oldies radio station. “The reality is we had a crisis going on in the country.”

City building official Barry Hardman notified Bay Cities on Oct. 13 that it would have to pay a $750 fine every day until the building is demolished or repair work begins. The lack of progress on the project has led the city to declare the building substandard,  said Jim Hossley, the city’s public works director.

“The city has gone by what the city codes require,” he said. “We want them to move forward with the project.”

Kilmer said Bay Cities’ president, Bruce Latta, still plans to start work before the end of the month. But the city hasn’t heard anything from him about renewing building permits that expired in July, Hossley said. The city also imposed a deadline earlier this month for Latta to prove he had the financing to complete the project, but it hasn’t received any correspondence.

According to the Coos County Assessor’s Office Web site, no property taxes have been paid on the property for 2008.

The city also has ordered Bay Cities to move fencing from the city’s right-of-way and remove a pile of sand at the back of the site. The sand could be blown or washed into the city’s storm water drainage system, Hardman said in the letter to Bay Cities.

If the property owner doesn’t do the work, the city will do it, and then could put a lien on the property, Hossley said.

Kilmer said Latta is working with the city to start the process of construction. Latta could not be reached for comment.

“We think it is a very positive thing and I hope the city sees that as well,” she said.

The radio station has been operating out of an office on Broadway Avenue in North Bend since January 2008, after Latta sold Bay Cities Ambulance. The radio station had previously worked out of the second-floor offices of the ambulance company on Ocean Boulevard in Coos Bay.

The station proposed for 625 N. Broadway, just north of Garden Elements, is designed to be about 6,000 square feet, with a little more than 1,500 square feet available for lease, Kilmer said. The plans also call for landscaping and an exterior in keeping with the city’s downtown historic district color scheme.

“It will not look anything like what the King’s Table did,” Kilmer said. “It will actually be a beautiful building.”