Session 15

Topic: 

 Vacant properties

Convenor:

 Cliff Jackson

Note Taker:

 Sandra Scaffidi

Participants:

 (see sign in sheet)

Key themes, outstanding questions, observations:

Notes:

Building inspection—right of entry, unsafe building commission

Absentee owners

Demolition loan program—David Pollard—low interest loans to support this

What to do about unresponsive landowners:

Municipalities have broad powers to protect their community

Use city ordinances to keep pressure on to either maintain or sell the property

Examples from other places:

Louisville, KY:  triple taxes on vacant properties

Tax sales—can take a long time—one option is to give municipality the right of first refusal (see Louisville, KY)

Pittsburgh—land bank: purchased large amount of property at low cost to remediate and auction off.

Idea:  Conference to address vacant property issues, include FHLB and Municipal league

Put together a package that will attract a private developer

Problem:  Asbestos Note:  Owner can do this more cheaply

Shame card:  e.g., “If you find this property to be an eyesore contact (owner’s name and contact info).”

Question:  what do you classify as vacant?  What percent of occupancy?  Utilities?  Best use?

Recommendations:

Contact our legislators personally, ask them to change some laws to make it easier to inspect and demolish without owners permission

Need to lobby for legislation to create tools to address this issue—possibly hand off to Municipal League

Copy ordinances from other states

Do this as collective action of the ten BP communities

Start a “blight busters” program

Hand out cameras to take photos of blighted areas

Develop means to stay in touch on this issues

What assistance to BP communities need from outsiders?

Pete Hobbs will contact municipal league to seek support for conference on this issue.

Cliff went to a conference on this and has many pages of notes, will put together and email with notes from this session to everyone here

Other key themes:

Home rule is a key piece

“Reverse taxation”

“Early warning systems” to identify problem properties—neighborhood info systems in Cleveland, Ohio—GIS database

Fairmont Southside did “Existing conditions Map” as part of BP project.

Wiki recorder:  Peter Hille