Now that the City of Bradford has negotiated a better deal for
disposing of waste at the Kness Landfill in Hutchins, demolition of
blighted properties in the city can begin again.
On Friday, City Clerk John Peterson gave addresses for nine
properties that the city hopes to demolish with a project currently
out for bid. The properties are as follows: 24 State St., 81 State
St. rear, 27 Jackson Ave., 109 Euclid Ave. 125 Euclid Ave.,157
South Ave., 238 South Ave., 28 Whitehead Ave. and 47 Interstate
Parkway.
“They’ve been on the list for some time,” Peterson said. “Is it
associated with the reduction in tipping fees? Absolutely.”
In fact, Peterson said, the city approved the Board of Health’s
list of properties in August contingent upon a reduction in tipping
fees at the landfill. City officials have just been waiting for
that reduction to come.
In December, the city negotiated tipping fees of $29 a ton for
disposal of refuse at the Kness Landfill rather than the $48.50
that all municipalities were charged when the McKean County Solid
Waste Authority ran the landfill.
The demolition project will be paid for out of the city’s
Community Development Block Grant funds from 2003, 2004 and 2005,
Peterson explained.
And the project will be moving ahead this winter, he added.
“Winter isn’t a bad time to do (demolitions),” Peterson said. He
explained that neighbors usually have windows closed, and dust
isn’t as much of an issue as it can be in other seasons.
“There’s always a little inconvenience when they are coming
down,” he added.
The invitation for bids for the project reads that sealed bids
are due in Peterson’s office on Feb. 14, and will be opened at the
City Council meeting that evening.
“Once we receive the bids, we will review them,” explained Jeff
Andrews of the Office of Economic and Community Development.
“Likely at the following meeting, we would recommend the award with
the number of homes we’d be able to demolish.
“There is some potential that we’d have to drop a couple,” he
said, adding that will depend on how much the bids are.
If some properties must be dropped from the project, Andrews
will use his experience in dealing with the condition of the
buildings to decide which must come down first.
If any buildings remain standing this time around, they will be
addressed in the future, he assured.
“It would remain on the list and would likely be in the next
group addressed,” Andrews said.
Andrews said the city has not done a large-scale demolition
project like this for about two years, and he is looking forward to
moving ahead soon.
The residences that are on the list have been in disrepair for
some time, Peterson explained.
Andrews explained that the list had been longer, but because of
enforcement efforts, some property owners were motivated to act on
their properties on their own.
Some were demolished privately at the cost of the property
owners, he said. The others, the city will demolish after actions
against the owners.
“We don’t necessarily acquire them,” he said of the properties,
“we are able to take them down by virtue of the health department.
That sets in the process to notify the owners and establish a fine
structure.
“If they don’t comply with the order, the city, by law, can go
in and take the house down,” he said.
“There are a few that we do acquire because we feel there may be
some value in owning the lot,” he added. But that’s not an optimum
solution, he said, because that takes too many properties out of
private, tax-paying hands.
“We’re very careful about acquiring these properties,” he
explained, adding they must keep the tax base in mind.
Removing the blighted homes can help make way for the building
of newer homes, which will ultimately have a positive impact on the
tax base, Andrews said.
“Over the years, we’ve pretty substantially increased the tax
base with some of these houses.”
