City officials are considering whether to reactivate the old Vacant Property Review Board to enlarge the scope of a Redevelopment Authority program designed to renovate as many blighted homes as possible — thus reducing the demolition rate for blighted properties and enhancing the tax base.

Under state law, VPRBs can certify buildings as blighted, fulfilling one of the requirements for taking such properties by eminent domain in preparation for renovation projects, according to authority solicitor Patrick Fanelli.

Without an active VPRB, the authority can’t use eminent domain to eliminate “spot blight,” meaning the authority would need to rely instead on negotiating with owners to sell or give the properties away — a strategy the authority has used in recent months to launch the renovation program, but one that doesn’t work when owners can’t be located or are uncooperative.

To declare a property blighted, the VPRB would need to see evidence that the property’s condition matches a certain set of criteria.

That set of criteria includes conditions like repeated code violations that remain uncorrected, along with dangerous conditions like holes in the roof and floors caving in, etc., according to Fanelli.

Once the VPRB declares a property blighted, the authority can exercise eminent domain in the traditional way by filing a declaration of taking in county court that describes the public purpose for the taking, accompanied by a notice for the owner, with the process giving anyone with ownership interest the opportunity to challenge the taking, followed by a process for them to be compensated.

The city’s VPRB is still on the books, but hasn’t been “populated” since about 2008.

When it was in operation, it was used routinely to take blighted buildings preparatory to demolition.

That led to problems, however, because over time, the city accumulated many vacant lots, which it was obligated to maintain.

It used Community Development Block Grant money to do so, but the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which administers the CDBG program, eventually objected to continued use of that money beyond

18 months of city ownership.

To eliminate the lot maintenance funding problem, the city resorted to demolishing blighted buildings based on its police power to remediate threats to the health, safety and welfare of the community, as exercised through the Property Maintenance Code.

Since that time, the city has used the Planning Commission to declare properties blighted, prior to those demolitions.

The resultant vacant lots thus undergo no change of ownership.

The lots are liened for the cost of the demolitions, and even the cost of subsequent maintenance through a “mow and lien” program — providing an opportunity for the city to be reimbursed when the lots are eventually sold.

The kind of eminent domain power that redevelopment authorities can use in the case of spot blight — using VPRBs — contrasts with the more expansive eminent domain power that redevelopment authorities have within Urban Redevelopment Areas, according to Fanelli.

Within Urban Redevelopment Areas, the authorities can take both property that is blighted and property that is not blighted, Fanelli said.

Another blight aspect

In recent times, more and more blighted homes in Altoona have been sold without buyers realizing they are seriously deteriorated and without them being prepared to deal with the deterioration, according to Codes Director Rebecca Brown, speaking at the most recent Planning Commission meeting.

In such cases, the sellers have violated a requirement to inform such buyers of outstanding code violations — a failure that itself constitutes a summary code violation.

When the city becomes aware of these kinds of situations, it presents buyers with a form they must sign and notarize, committing them to accept responsibility for their properties and to correcting the code issues, based on a schedule that is included, according to Brown.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.