LITTLE VALLEY — The Cattaraugus County Land Bank Corp. is about to pull the trigger on its first transactions — including authorizing the demolition of three blighted properties in the city of Olean.
Created by the County Legislature in December 2014, the Cattaraugus County Land Bank Corp. has an objective of helping to remove blighted homes from communities across the county.
Earlier this year the Land Bank Corp. received an initial grant of $764,000 from the state. For two years it operated with no resources, preparing for the day the first state grant would come.
As part of its first official action, the Land Bank will demolish six blighted properties, Daniel Martonis, director of the county Real Property Tax Services Office told members of the County Legislature’s Development and Agriculture Committee Wednesday. Martonis is a member of the Land Bank.
Three of the properties which were withheld from the county’s real property tax auction and deeded to the Land Bank are in Olean. The other three are in Mansfield, Hinsdale and Ashford.
These properties will be offered for sale to get them back on the tax rolls. They can either become the site for a new home or sold to neighbors.
A resolution is expected to be introduced at Wednesday’s County Legislature meeting to contract with the Land Bank Corp. for reimbursement of demolition services. The Public Works Department will contract with a demolition company.
Another resolution will authorize the Land Bank Corp. to let a construction technician have access to the properties to determine the rehabilitation needs.
Three more blighted homes are scheduled to be rehabilitated by contractors hired by the Land Bank and sold to get them back on the tax rolls. The three properties first need to have engineering reports prepared. One of those properties is in Olean.
These properties are on top of 10 blighted properties the county turned over to the City of Olean last year.
City officials hope to show a commitment to eliminating blight from neighborhoods with the first steps of both the city and the new Cattaraugus County Land Bank Corp.
“We’re very appreciative of the additional blighted properties the new county Land Bank Corp. plans to address in the city,” Olean Mayor Bill Aiello, a former county legislator, said Friday. “These things are very positive.”
The mayor, who has been attending Land Bank Corp. meetings, said the blighted homes the Land Bank plans to demolish in Olean include one in the 300 block of North Sixth Street, one at the corner of Queen and Seneca Streets., and one on Gilmore Avenue.
Aiello said the city had bid out the demolition of five of the blighted properties the county had deeded to the city, but the cost was in excess of $100,000. “We’re going to have to re-evaluate it.”
One possibility came up during the recent Shared Services Initiative meetings the county held with municipalities in order to come up with savings and efficiencies, Aiello said.
Several municipalities complained about the high cost of demolition, prompting proposals to look into bundling properties to be demolished from several municipalities and putting it out for bid. The City of Olean is very interested in the concept, Aiello said.
The mayor said the city also plans to put out requests for proposals to rehabilitate several other blighted properties.
“We’ll need to see a plan first to cleanup and renovate he homes,” he said.
(Contact reporter Rick Miller at rmiller@oleantimesherald.com. Follow him on Twitter, @RMillerOTH)
