Bradford City Council considered matters including the sale of tax parcels and recommendations by the Historical Architectural Review Board at Tuesday’s meeting.
Council approved the sale of these tax parcels that are currently on the McKean County Tax Claim Repository: 49 W. Corydon St. to Cody Hennard; 62 Hobson Place to Gregory L. and Rebecca A. Henton; 1 Amm St. to Dean M. Bazzani; 174 Kennedy St. and 12 Leigh St., both to Jason Moreth; 18 Edna Ave. to William L. Roggenbaum Sr.; 50 Rochester St. to North Street Associates LLC (Zachary Finnegan); 319 Jackson Ave. to Patrick Giordano; and 9 Longfellow Ave. to Mark Speziale (contingent upon zoning variance).
The above sales are pending approval of the other two taxing bodies, Bradford Area School District and McKean County.
The city is declining the sale of the following tax parcels due to them being deemed being beyond the scope of renovations: 114 South Ave., 402 South Ave., 116 Summer St., 19 Leigh St., 21 Leigh St., 117 High St. and 12 Longfellow Ave.
The man who put in the bid to purchase 117 High St. asked council to reconsider the bid, saying that he went to look at the outside of the house and believed it to have a good foundation and roof.
Councilman Tim Pecora explained that the Department of Property Maintenance made the decision that it was beyond repair, and Councilman Brad Mangel added that he would call the man to explain what property management said about the house. Mangel did not want to talk about the building’s condition at a public meeting.
At the recommendation of the HARB, council approved the issuance of two certificates of appropriateness for work to downtown buildings.
One certificate of appropriateness granted permission to issue a sign permit to Richard Young, owner of Farmers Insurance, representing Greg Ross, owner of 93 Main St. The permit grants permission to install a lighted cabinet style sign with a white background, red and blue lettering and the logo. HARB recommends that Young consider using a signboard with a linear style sign light instead of the cabinet style sign.
The other permitted the issuance of a building permit to John Schenne, owner of the former Armory at 56 Barbour St., for exterior renovations. These include installing modern, energy-efficient windows, sliding glass patio doors at the roof access and removing the HVAC ducts from the second story.
Resident Cody Lunn provided an update on his work to start a community garden. Lunn said he has been working with Shane Oschman, executive director of the Office of Economic and Community Development, on the idea.
At the last council meeting, Lunn was advised to put together a committee for the project. On Tuesday, he said he did form a committee. He suggested the city look at San Francisco, Calif., for ideas on sustainability.
Council passed on second reading an amendment to the ordinance providing for historic preservation.
Also, council passed on first reading amendments to three ordinances relating to the establishment and maintenance of the city’s non-uniform pension, firemen pension and the non-uniformed pension for police. They must vote on these a second time before they become law.
City Administrator Chris Lucco noted that the pensions are not changing; they just had to include legal language required by the IRS.
Council accepted a quote of $53,500 to purchase a 2021 Ford F-150 police vehicle from Laurel Ford. They authorized a loan agreement with JVB Northern Tier for the cost of the vehicle.
