A downtown resident received city approval Tuesday to rebuild a wall damaged in efforts to repair the site of adjacent buildings that collapsed more than five years ago, but Lisa Ashcraft said she will continue her lawsuit to have the City of Vicksburg and others pay for the work and damages.

“It’s just a blow to Vicksburg because the average person doesn’t want to pay for this,” said Lisa Ashcraft, who along with her husband, Randy, owns the building at 1221 Washington St., which suffered damages during site clearing of the collapsed buildings.

The buildings at 707-713 Clay St., just east of the rear of the Ashcrafts’ building, collapsed on Jan. 25, 2006, as construction workers were attempting to renovate them.

Since, the site has been sold, numerous contractors have been hired to clear the spot and repair adjoining buildings, the City of Vicksburg and Warren County courts have ordered stops and starts on work and Clay Street, in front of the collapse, has been blocked to vehicular and pedestrian traffic.

The Ashcrafts purchased the property in April 2008, two months before Warren County Circuit Court Judge Isadore Patrick approved an agreement to allow William Greenwood and his company, Antique Wood and Brick Company of Mississippi, who is also named in the suit, 18 months to tear down the Clay Street structures. When the agreement expired in December 2008, the city extended the agreement through August 2009.

On Feb. 2, 2010, as debris-clearance continued, the upper part of Ashcraft’s east wall was damaged. She sought and received an injunction to stop the debris removal.

On March 25, 2010, the Ashcrafts filed a suit against the city, Greenwood and his company and Preston Reuther and Mary Reuther, former owners of the collapsed buildings.

Last week, on Feb. 1, an amended complaint was filed in Warren County Circuit Court to add more defendants.

In addition to the city, the Reuthers and Greenwood, the defendants currently are Clay Street Complex; Downtown Vicksburg Investments; Carter Miller Associates, an engineering firm; Brad Carter Jr., engineer; and John Does 1 to 5. The John Does are not identified.

“We’ve had lots of time to resolve this amicably,” Ashcraft said. “The (City of Vicksburg) had more-than-abundant cordial meetings, and they just refused and that makes it more and more apparent.”

The suit says the City of Vicksburg acted negligently by “rescinding the Stop Work Order” issued last year by Warren County Judge Johnny Price to halt clearing of the collapsed structures on Clay, directly east of the Ashcrafts’ two-story building.

“If they would have applied their original stop order and made that guy stop and repair my damage,” she said. “The original game plan was to leave that wall in tact. It was supposed to be dropped to just below my roof line and capped. It was never ever supposed to be disturbed. It’s just going to get really expensive for the city.”

Ashcraft, who previously operated a hot-dog stand next to her building, said she is seeking more than $100,000 in damages to recover all costs spent to repair her wall and associated costs.

Mayor Paul Winfield and city attorney Lee Thames Jr. were unavailable Tuesday because they, along with City Clerk Walter Osborne and 14 others, are in Washington, D.C., this week on an annual lobbying trip.

North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield said he was unaware of the amended complaint and declined to speak on pending litigation.

Thames has said before that the city does not intend to get involved in the matter.

“It’s just not a city matter,” he said in March. “It’s a dispute between two property owners. Unless we get a court order to step in, we’d be opening up ourselves to liability.”

Ashcraft disagrees.

“They refuse involvement,” she said Tuesday. “I don’t know how you can have a meeting in the city with the mayor, with director of planning and zoning and say they’re not involved.”

The Ashcrafts had planned to open a bakery and four retail spots in the building originally operated as a savings and loan business and later was the downtown home of the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The Ashcrafts’ plans were delayed another year due to the wall damage, she said.

On Tuesday, Ashcraft was required to receive Board of Architectural Review approval to rebuild the wall because it is not routine repair and maintenance.

“It’s a necessary thing,” board member Tom Pharr said.

“I’m putting back the wall in the exactly in the same pattern with the exact same brick the same way it had been there originally,” Ashcraft said. “My insurance is paying for it, but I am seeking restitution for it.”

Ashcraft keeps her Washington Street parking lot north of her building, where the hot-dog stand formerly was located, closed to traffic because of liability issues, she said.

“We’re moving in and out of there with the bricks,” she said. “I’ve had it closed since we bought the building just for the simple fact that if I open it, it will fill up so fast I won’t have a place to park.”

The hot-dog stand, in the design of a steamboat, was sold and moved last week, she said, adding that she would like to open another stand — this time as a locomotive.