WARREN Changes for vacant houses

About 50 homes in the city should be boarded, a building official said.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- If money is available and the plan goes through, more stringent procedures for boarding vacant buildings in the city will be required.
Chris Taneyhill, chief building official, has developed a preliminary plan patterned on Cincinnati's hazard abatement program. He stressed that the ideas are in the early stages and details are still being worked out.
He estimates it would take about $100,000 to get the idea started.
"There's close to 50 homes that should be boarded," Taneyhill said.
Councilman Alford L. Novak, D-2nd, said he plans to call a finance committee meeting for next week to try to determine if money is available to start the program.
Bringing down neighborhood
Abandoned homes without boarding are magnets for vandals and thieves who want to gut the structures of anything valuable.
"Transients go in and out of them, drug dealers go in and out," Novak said. "It's the broken window theory. Once you get one house in the neighborhood like that, it affects the whole neighborhood."
When a property owner fails to board a property, the city's operations department generally does it, but those workers are pressed for time with all of their other duties. The method of tacking up plywood often doesn't keep people out for long, either.
Proposed rules
If the plan goes through, an owner would have 15 days to barricade a structure. If they don't comply, the city begins procedures to get the work done, possibly by a contractor, and the bill is attached to the property taxes. If the structure goes through foreclosure, the city attaches a lien to recoup its expenses.
Requirements include three-quarter-inch painted plywood reinforced with 2-by-4 studs and bolted. The change requires passage of an ordinance.
"It keeps the structure secure and makes it presentable so the integrity of the neighborhood doesn't go down," Taneyhill said.
Both Novak and Taneyhill agree that enforcement of the city's property code compliance also is a priority.
"It's something that we'd like to accomplish, if not this year, then maybe next year," Taneyhill said.
He wants to focus on repairs of illegal structures and unsafe conditions.
denise.dick@vindy.com