Chautauqua County Legislature

Monday, May 19, 2008

LEGISLATORS AIM TO HELP CURB BLIGHT

Cornell, Heenan, Keefe Want to Give Local Municipalities Additional Tool to Deal with Vacant, Run Down Houses

Mayville – County Legislators Chuck Cornell, Shaun Heenan, and Steve Keefe have introduced legislation aimed at helping to end neighborhood blight that results from the county’s tax foreclosure process. The three lawmakers want to give local towns, villages, and cities the ability to inspect tax foreclosed properties prior to their sale at county auction. Cornell said the idea is not new, but was discussed at the joint meeting with Jamestown’s Housing Committee held last month at the Robert H. Jackson Center. He said many times bidders at auctions are unaware of the number of code violations at the properties they purchase. The properties then end up back in the roughly four year county foreclosure process. They are most often vacant and dilapidated. Legislator Heenan says he wants to give municipalities “all the tools they need to clean up neighborhood eyesores.”

“If we want to bring more opportunity and prosperity to Chautauqua County, we must revitalize our neighborhoods,” said Cornell who chairs the County Planning and Economic Development Committee. “Working closely with our municipal governments is a must if we are to be successful in reversing blight.”

“The city I represent needs to have our laws conducive to their effort to rebuild Dunkirk,” said Heenan, the Ranking Member of the Planning and Economic Development Committee. “This is a small, but important step in that direction.”

“Often times, its subtle changes in the law that signal a new direction,” said Fredonia Legislator Steve Keefe, Chair of the Administrative Services Committee. “This change is something we have visited in the past and one that we need to get accomplished in order to improve housing throughout Chautauqua County.”

Dunkirk Mayor Richard Frey hopes the change will allow his city to get their arms around the problem of perpetually vacant and run down houses that are entangled in the county’s lengthy foreclosure process. “What we hope this will do is make sure that those looking to purchase properties at the county foreclosure auction understand what they are expected to do if they are the successful bidder,” said Frey. “Often times, one house that is a longtime neighborhood eyesore ends up encouraging neighbors to relocate.”

Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi concurred. “When the City of Jamestown handled its own tax foreclosure process prior to regionalizing with the county, we had these safeguards in place to ensure that properties purchased at our auction were either improved to become code compliant, or reverted back to city ownership,” Teresi said. “It was rare that a property would revert back to the city as most successful bidders brought their properties up to code. Returning to this successful model would help city residents tremendously.”

The measure will be considered at the County Legislature’s Administrative Services Committee held tonight at 5:30 on the third floor of the Gerace Office Building in Mayville. The public is encouraged to attend.

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