Pottsville is taking action against the owners of 15 properties it believes are blighted.
Last week, the City’s Planning Commission acted on the recommendation of Pottsville’s Blighted Property Review Committee to notify owners by certified letter that their buildings, in their opinion, are blighted. It’s the first step in the process of certifying the properties as blighted.
The first batch of properties selected are on Centre St., W. Market St., or Laurel Blvd. in Pottsville. It includes properties located at two major intersections in the City’s downtown business district, including the Thompson Building and the building formerly known as Centre Square, at W. Market and E. Norwegian streets.
The letters give property owners 30 days to act and remedy the conditions that the City believes makes them blighted or file an appeal. If they don’t, the properties will be officially certified as blighted and that allows Pottsville’s Redevelopment Authority to begin to take action on them.
The Blighted Property Review Committee worked off a list several years old that contained more than 200 properites to pick which to target first.
“We chose the ones that were the worst of them all,” former Councilman Tom Wood, who is a member of both the Planning Commission and Blighted Property Review Committee, says, adding that the ones chosen fit “all the criteria” of a blighted property.
Solicitor Gretchen Sterns adds that to qualify for this action, a property needs to be vacant and the owner must have received multiple citations for conditions at their property, requirements of the Urban Redevelopment law. The City also wanted to be sure it knew the owner of the properties. If service of the Certified Letter to the owner would be an issue, Pottsville is temporarily holding off on targeting the property.
Once the 30-day window to respond to the letter expires and assuming nothing happens in that time, the properties can be certified as blighted by the same two boards, the Blighted Property Review Committee and Planning Commission.
That’s when the City’s Redevelopment Authority can step in to take further action on the property. Sterns says that can include taking it by eminent domain, beginning the conservatorship process, potentially working with property owners to seek grant funds to rehabilitate the property, or using Redevelopment Authority money to negotiate a sale of the property to the authority.
“We don’t want the properties; we just want them fixed,” Planning Commission Chairman Walter Davis IV says. “If the property owner is willing to work with the City, that’s great. But they need to do something.”
The largest and most notable property on the initial list is the Thompson Building in downtown Pottsville. It’s currently in the conservatorship process. That won’t change despite the recent action by the Planning Commission and Blighted Property Review Committee.
See the full list of all properties below:
Subscribe to Coal Region Canary
Get email updates from Coal Region Canary by becoming a subscriber today. Just enter your email address below to get started!Support Coal Region Canary
Like our reporting and want to support truly local news in Schuylkill County? Your small donations help. For as little as $5, your contribution will allow us to cover more news that directly affects you. Consider donating today by hitting the big yellow button below ...