Campbell tackles problem of vacant homes, abandoned buildings

October 7, 2015 at 12:05a.m.

CAMPBELL

It’s not uncommon to approach a Campbell home and find that no one lives there – unless you count badgers, rats, raccoons or birds.

Maureen O’Neil, a property specialist for the city, said she gets daily complaints about vacant buildings in the city of 8,500 people.

Since the city created her position earlier this year, O’Neil has been keeping a tally of vacant buildings. There currently are 339, O’Neil said, and most of them are residential.

Foreclosures are a sad fact of the area’s economic woes, but O’Neil said people should be aware that they don’t immediately need to vacate their homes after receiving notice of foreclosure. In fact, banks regularly receive foreclosure dismissals, and people may be able to renegotiate the terms of a loan.

“A lot of times, these circumstances aren’t of someone’s choosing,” O’Neil said. “We want to work with people and let them know what’s going on and what their options are. People don’t like to have this cloud hanging over their heads while they’re wondering what’s going to happen.”

This year, the city instituted “administrative penalties” for property violations in addition to already-existing criminal penalties. In practice, this means residents will receive a series of warnings in the mail about property violations, which eventually could result in a civil fine of $200 to $1,200 if the warnings aren’t heeded. This gives people more opportunities to comply before being penalized and is intended to save the police department time and money that would have been devoted to enforcing property codes, city Administrator Judie Clement said.

Police Chief Drew Rauzan said Clement has led a charge to get abandoned buildings taken down.

“Judie inherited a program, and she’s been cleaning up homes that, quite frankly, should have been being cleaned up for 40 years,” Rauzan said. “Abandoned properties are truly an epidemic, and Campbell and Youngstown are ground zero.”

In addition to lowering property values, overgrown vacant properties frequently catch fire and can be a tempting place for children to play and then injure themselves, Rauzan said.

“These buildings are a magnet for squatters and thieves,” Rauzan added.

By the end of the month, Campbell will demolish 14 vacant properties, using funding from the Mahoning County Land Bank, O’Neil said. The land bank received a $4.3 million grant in 2014 from the Ohio Housing Finance Agency, which will go toward demolishing vacant buildings in Campbell, Austintown, Struthers, Boardman and Youngstown by summer 2016, said Roger Smith, a director for the land bank.