City officials discuss uses of idle properties

The city has more than 12,000 vacant properties.
By SEAN BARRON
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
YOUNGSTOWN -- A vital ingredient to rebuilding the city's neighborhoods is a practical and long-term plan to effectively deal with thousands of vacant and abandoned properties and homes.
That was a core premise espoused by local and regional city planning experts at Wednesday's workshop "Vacant Properties: Neighborhood Liability or Asset?" at the Butler Institute of American Art on Wick Avenue.
The two-hour program, hosted by Wick Neighbors Inc. and Youngstown 2010, was set up to show civic leaders how they can include vacant property initiatives in their long-term reinvestment and planning strategies.
Also discussed were ways to handle the more than 12,000 vacant properties and estimated 1,000 empty homes in the city.
Two key strategies are having a comprehensive real property information system and developing a land-bank program in Youngstown, explained Joseph Schilling, director of research and policy at the National Vacant Properties Campaign in Washington, D.C.
A land-bank system would allow a private or other entity to acquire a parcel through a tax foreclosure. The new owner would work with the community, a process that likely would encourage fresh ideas for the best use of the land.
Those ideas could include keeping it as green space, reusing it for light industry, or adding new housing, he explained.
Schilling said he agrees with the concept in the Youngstown 2010 plan that recognizes Youngstown as a "shrinking" city. As an area's population decreases, so does the amount of necessary and used infrastructure, and Youngstown has the ability to "redesign itself to fit that trend and attract new residents," he said.
Targets
Among new residents who could call Youngstown home are people who like the area's low cost of living and smaller-town feel and who are tired of traffic gridlock and other problems common to larger cities, Schilling noted.
Terry Abrams, executive director of the Home Builders/Remodelers Association of Mahoning Valley, said his agency is ready to redevelop many of the city's vacant properties.
Handling the problem is in the best interests of the region and should be aided by having Mayor Jay Williams as the city's leader, he said.
"The HBA is ready to muscle its forces with people, expertise and materials to do the job," Abrams added.
Councilman Richard Atkinson, R-3rd, said he wants to see the vacant parcels in land banks, and that it's difficult for the city to continually cut grass and maintain the properties.
Continued downtown growth and making the city an entertainment site is putting the revitalization process "on the right track," Atkinson said.
Leaders of the city's seven wards are focusing on the problem and discussing what can be done with their vacant parcels, Atkinson continued, adding that some vacant houses on the city's North Side attract thieves who steal doorknobs and other antique parts of homes.
Lisa Nelson, associate director for community information at Case Western Reserve University, also discussed effective reinvestment strategies relating to information systems.
The workshop was the second of five sessions designed to increase awareness and understanding, as well as to find solutions, pertaining to reinvestment in city neighborhoods. The next event is set for 7 p.m. Sept. 27 at the Butler.