It’s a slow fight, but one that is looking up for the City of Bradford.
Since 2011, when city officials began focusing efforts on addressing blight, 31 properties have been demolished, explained Sara Andrews, executive director of the Office of Economic and Community Development.
“In a lot of cases, the houses the city has to tear down have not been taxable in quite some time,” Mayor Tom Riel said, countering arguments that the city is removing homes that may still provide tax money to the city. “They go through two tax sales and then end up in the repository. It wouldn’t surprise me if some of the properties the city has to tear down haven’t been on the tax rolls for four or five years or more.”
And by the time those properties have come before the Board of Health, there is little or nothing that can be done to save them.
Many years with inadequate or no code enforcement have really taken a toll on older houses in the city, Riel said. “We’re hoping to slow that process down and deal more with prevention under the property maintenance program.”
Jeff Andrews of the OECD oversees the Department of Property Maintenance and Inspection for the city, and said it “continues to make progress towards both the elimination of blight and more importantly the correction of code violations that will over time reduce the number of properties that reach the point of no return.”
The property maintenance officers have performed 1,675 inspections so far this year, including rental, complaint-based, owner-occupied, vehicles or follow-up inspections.
“In those combined inspections there have been 2,458 code violations cited year-to-date,” he said. “However, we are seeing a compliance rate somewhere in the vicinity of 90 percent.”
Jeff Andrews also explained the department is working with the Board of Health, “nominating properties to be considered as a public nuisance, primarily when it is exceedingly obvious the properties have progressed into a condition there is no practical rehab option.
“DPMI has placarded 36 properties year-to-date and 87 over a two-year period. Although they are not all condemned placards, many are,” he continued. “These are the ones that have been added to the Board of Health’s list for consideration as a public nuisance and possible demolition.
“The Board of Health has therefore been more active the past two years than in a number of prior years as a result of this effort and as demonstrated by the number of demolitions undertaken or planned,” Jeff Andrews said.
“These guys have years of catching up to do,” the mayor said. “In the long run it will prevent more property from getting in the condition that it needs to be demolished.”
Riel, who was a vocal critic of the former code enforcement department, said the property maintenance department is working and people have been receptive to working on the issues the department has cited.
“The department works hard at having people understand the bigger picture here and work towards compliance,” Jeff Andrews said, “understanding the violations or continued actions will not go away unless addressed.
“If any of the violations are not brought into compliance they remain in the system and are eventually ticketed and ultimately, if still not addressed, a citation is written at the magistrate’s office for further prosecution.”
Property maintenance has led to other revenue collections for the city, too. As part of the rental inspection process, if the property is delinquent on taxes or local utilities, they must be brought current before a certificate is issued.
There are still some problem properties where the owners ignore the efforts being made, Jeff Andrews explained. “We are working with our solicitor, magistrate and eventually would like to meet with the district attorney regarding addressing of problem properties that just ignore our efforts to work with them to become compliant,” he said. “There appears to be state legislation or laws that offers a means to prosecute these most egregious properties or uncooperative property owners with a criminal offence. Let me reiterate, though, that our department works very hard to avoid the advancement of these properties into the more aggressive laws available to us. However there are a few properties that we may have no choice in the matter.”
He continued, explaining the reasons for the department’s success so far include the technology for tracking violations, and the support of Bradford City Council.
“Moving forward the objective or goal of the department would be to reduce the number of blighted properties that end up on the Board of Health list for demo or privately demolished by curbing the number of violations that go unimproved,” he said, “a goal that I believe is attainable with the continued support of city council and all those that are involved in the success of the department.
“Success is not always measured by the numbers but more likely, I believe, in the way the department goes about its business and the diligence that creates the numbers.”
