Determined to rid the city of a perennial eyesore, the Tracy City Council voted Tuesday night to lend $40,000 to the owner of an abandoned building at Holly Drive and Kavanaugh Avenue, who said he had no other way to pay for its demolition.

The money, which the city expects to be returned with 5 percent interest, will be used to rip down the two-story former store that faces North Elementary School.

Neighbors interviewed in the mostly poor, Spanish-speaking neighborhood agreed that the boarded-up building should be destroyed.

“Of course it should be ripped down — it’s an eyesore,” said Dianne McLean, who lives less than 100 feet to the south of the building.

“It’s a good thing (it’s going to be demolished), it looks dirty,” said Rafael Ramos, whose home overlooks the building from the opposite street corner.

Another resident, who asked not to be named, said he hoped to find a job with the demolition crew.

But some neighbors interviewed by the Tracy Press disagreed with city employees, who claimed the building is a magnet for crime.

“We’ve never had any problems with anyone,” said Maria Castrellon, who lives next to the building in a narrow lane filled with modest homes. Castrellon said her neighborhood doesn’t deserve its bad reputation.

Assistant City Manager Julie Yuan-Miu said in a report handed to the council that the owners plan to replace the building and adjacent trailer park with high-density housing units.

Yuan-Miu said 11 trailers at the site had already been vacated and demolished, but she said it would be difficult to evict remaining trailer park residents because they are protected by state laws.

Also at Tuesday’s council meeting:

• Pete Carlson from Willowglen Court told the council that his neighbors would like help to pass a ballot in their area to increase local landscaping fees.

• Resident Daniel Wells asked the council to oppose a high-security Homeland Security biological research laboratory, for which Tracy was placed on a shortlist of locations. Local activist Bob Sarvey invited council members to an information session at his shoe store on at 7 p.m. Tuesday. An editorial against the proposed laboratory was printed on the back of the invitation.

• The council approved a pension plan giving most city employees 2.5 percent of their annual salary for every year of city service from the time they turn 55. The new plan will cost the city an extra $530,000 per year.

• The council voted to create a new regional plan to manage Tracy’s groundwater. Mayor Dan Bilbrey said the project would provide “a landslide of information that’s important in the upcoming years as the population continues to increase and the demand for water continues to increase.”

• The Tracy Tomorrow and Beyond Committee gave its annual presentation, saying it had worked to bridge the gap between slow-growth and pro-growth advocates.

• The council agreed that Silva’s Pipeline had satisfactorily finished sewer replacement works on Ninth Street and Miller Court for a fee of $820,000 — nearly $160,000 under budget.

• The council voted to pay three consultants $682,000 over 14 months to help the engineering department manage $150 million worth of city-wide projects including the South and Northeast Tracy industrial plans, the Gateway business park and the Interstate-205 plan.

• To reach reporter John Upton, call 830-4274 or e-mail jupton@tracypress.com.