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Cambria seminar addresses blight

EBENSBURG — On Wednesday, a Cambria County man attending an afternoon seminar asked how many blighted properties existed across the county.

About 20 others gathered in the room laughed — it was their way of saying a lot.

The seminar was intended to allow Renee Daily, executive director of the Cambria County Redevelopment Authority, to inform municipal leaders in attendance about an opportunity to eliminate some of those properties.

The focus of her presentation was Act 152 of 2016, the Demolition Funds Act, which allows county leaders to impose a $15 fee when deeds are transferred. Those funds then can then be used to demolish problem properties, Daily said.

In Cambria County, as well as the greater six-county area, blight was identified as a pressing issue during the recent development of a comprehensive plan, Daily said.

“It was obvious that blight is one of the No. 1 issues,” she said.

And in January 2017, Cambria County commissioners, seeing that issue, decided to pass a resolution, implementing Act 152 locally.

The Act 152 program is managed by the Redevelopment Authority, which accepts applications from municipal governments, municipal authorities, other redevelopment authorities and public nonprofit organizations, Daily said.

A qualifying organization must own a building before Act 152 funds can be used to raze it, Daily said, explaining applications also must be thoroughly completed so that funding recipients can be prioritized.

When asked by an audience member about how to make applications more attractive, Daily said the goal is to increase the county’s tax base.

“Our no. 1 goal in this is taxation,” she said, explaining that program leaders would like to see properties placed back onto tax rolls.

Under Act 152, about $105,000 is generated yearly, allowing for about seven to 10 demolitions per phase, Daily said.

Act 152 funds had paid for demolishing six properties as of Wednesday, Daily said. That number was shockingly low to one audience member.

“That could be one street in certain sections,” he said.

President Commissioner Tom Chernisky also commented on the number later in the meeting, but more optimistically.

“We know it’s not a cure-all. It’s not a silver bullet,” he said. “That’s six more blighted properties that have been taken down in Cambria County that wouldn’t have been.”

In Johnstown alone, about 1,300 properties have been identified, Daily said, and blight is an issue in most, if not all, other county municipalities, as well.

And Commissioner Mark Wissinger stressed that Act 152 funds are being used to target problem properties across the county.

“This is for the whole county,” he said.

Once projects are selected, all of the homes are advertised as a package, and a contract is awarded to the lowest responsible bidder, Daily said.

At the time a contract is signed, deeds must be in the ownership of the applying organization, she said.

JoAnne Ranck, executive director of the county’s Tax Claim Bureau, attended the seminar to offer her assistance to those in gathered, calling on them to seek her out for questions about the different types of tax sales.

Additionally, Daily talked about how officials can take advantage of Act 90 of 2010, which allows municipalities to take ownership of and demolish blighted properties. That is true as long as municipal leaders first attempt to get property owners to remedy their problem homes, she said, adding that the process, which includes codes enforcement, typically takes six months.

After that six-month period, a property can be posted, and after a 90-day waiting period, it can be demolished, Daily said.

“If (property owners) don’t (fix it), on that 91st day you can demolish that property,” she said.

A lien for the amount of demolition can then be filed.

Act 152 can be used to demolish properties that are seized through the Act 90 process, Daily said.

Applications are prioritized each session, but if a project is denied, the application does not need to be refiled, she said, telling those in attendance that unapproved applications are held for later consideration.

She also stressed that a municipality that applies and is approved for Act 152 funds likely will not be awarded funds in a subsequent round.

“You are not going to get approved each session, each phase,” she said.

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