Erie City Land Bank Lists First 20 Blighted Properties to be Demolished or Repaired
Land Bank Update
November 29, 2018
Source: Erie News NOW
20 properties are on the list. Nearly all of them will be demolished.
Some blighted properties that have tarnished Erie neighborhoods for years, may be demolished as early as March. That’s the word from the Erie City Land Bank Board.
The panel has something to work with now that it did not have in the past. That something is money. The Erie City Land Bank Board has received $411,000 in funding from the Erie County Land Bank Board. That money comes from a new $1 million a year allocation to Erie County from state gaming funds to fight the problem of blight.
The Erie City Land Bank Board has been established for two years. The board has been busy prioritizing properties to be acquired, and then either demolished or repaired. It just did not have the money to take action until now.
20 blighted properties in the city are currently identified for acquisition. According to Scott Henry, of the Erie Redevelopment Authority, most of those will be demolished.
The list of properties was released today. Those properties could be called “the worst of the worst” in the city.
Property appraisals are being conducted on the dilapidated homes, and the land bank board is now working with attorneys. Legal documents are being filed to pave the way for the demolition. Hopefully in March, the eyesores will begin to come down.
“Many of them have no responsive owners. In some cases, we know the owners are deceased and there’s been no heirs or family members step forward. Some, we think people have just walked away from. Some of them have owners, but the owners just have been unresponsive to code enforcement efforts. So it’s time for a public entity to intervene before they further drag down the neighborhood,” Henry said.
Henry says there are currently over 1,000 blighted properties in the city. He say the city will continue to work with the Erie County Land Bank to obtain funding to acquire more abandoned properties year after year.
List and map of properties
658-660 West 4 St.
662-664 West 4 St.
1436 East 7 St.
460 East 10 St.
1135 East 11 St.
741 East 12 St.
403-405 East 21 St.
714 East 21 St.
525 East 27 St.
1113 West 29 St.
2501 Brandes St.
930-932 East Ave.
711 German St.
213 Hess Ave.
433 Huron St.
1904 June St.
1220 East Lake Rd.
3031 Pine Ave.
422 Poplar St.
1618-1620 Sassafras St.
