BRIGANTINE/Little Egg Harbor Township DEMOLITION ISSUES Press of Atlantic City 10/18/2013, Page A01 Demolition a headache for towns ■ Brigantine wants to raze abandoned properties, but Little Egg Harbor Township has had no luck doing so. By WALLACE McKELVEY Staff Writer A year after Hurricane Sandy made landfall, communities are grappling with the blight of abandoned properties as entire neighborhoods are raised and rehabilitated around them. Municipalities simultaneously swamped with building permits and code inspections also must deal with dilapidated homes and yards left to lie fallow. In addition to being eyesores, those homes can hurt neighboring property values and pose public safety hazards. But demolishing abandoned buildings can prove a difficult — and potentially litigious — prospect. That’s part of the reason why Little Egg Harbor Township, which identified more than 200 properties for demolition and debris removal after Sandy, has yet to demolish any. “When you talk about demolition, it’s not just knocking the house down and hauling it away,” said Michael Fromosky, the Ocean County municipality’s assistant administrator. “If there’s asbestos in there, it’s extra money. And then, the question is if the utility companies will charge for disconnect.” On Thursday, Brigantine approved two ordinances that Demolish (Continued from A1) officials say will allow them to crack down on abandoned properties. The city’s new procedure calls for a designated official to identify abandoned properties and, after giving notice to the owners, arrange for demolition. It also allows the city to take legal action that could lead to it taking ownership of the property. Rich Stevens, Brigantine’s construction official, said the city has a list of 10 properties, the majority of which were severely damaged by Sandy in the city’s north end. An additional 20 have not been fully vetted but could be added later. In the past, Stevens said, the city has been able to convince owners to demolish the homes themselves. That has proved more difficult since last October’s storm. Most of the 10 properties, he said, are bankowned after foreclosures. “Let’s put it this way: The 10 that I have already on the list, I ordered the utilities to be disconnected on all of them,” he said. “I haven’t gotten one phone call about it.” Then there are broader questions. For instance, Fromosky said, what does “abandoned” mean? “My own house probably would’ve appeared abandoned for the nine months I was working on it,” he said. “It’s not as simple as I drive by and there’s nobody there. It’s going to require additional legwork, and I don’t know who has all the extra help right now.” With so many delays facing homeowners, from securing insurance payouts to applying and waiting for response from aid programs, Fromosky said many homes may look abandoned. In truth, the owners may be displaced but still trying to return. According to the state Department of Community Affairs, about 40,500 homes and 15,600 rental units sustained major or severe damage. “Major damage,” according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, means damage greater than $8,000 or more than one foot of water on the first floor; “Severe damage” increases to $28,800 or four feet of water. Atlantic and Ocean counties saw 9 percent and 10 percent of households, respectively, sustain major or severe damage. Some areas of Atlantic City and Brigantine saw more than 50 percent. That spiked to 90 percent in Little Egg. Beyond the problem of determining abandonment and forcing homeowners to take action, some properties may not even be owned by their last inhabitants. With foreclosures widespread, even before Sandy, municipalities such as Brigantine and Little Egg are often negotiating with banks, not individuals. The Federal Emergency Management Agency had offered 90 percent reimbursement for demolition expenses incurred by towns, but many, including Brigantine, have not taken advantage of the program because of the amount of regulation involved. To qualify for reimbursement, municipalities are required to obtain right-ofentry and hold-harmless agreements. They also must complete environmental and historic preservation reviews, as well as coordinate with code, fire and public health inspections. And not all municipalities have been reimbursed. FEMA helped pay for the demolition of 170 homes in Union Beach, Monmouth County, in the months after the storm. But officials said the agency denied reimbursement for dozens more this summer. Fromosky said Little Egg considered the FEMA program, but the amount of paperwork proved prohibitive, and different officials provided conflicting information. Relying on property liens can prove expensive without the reassurance of a FEMA reimbursement. Fromosky said estimates Little Egg received put the costs of demolition between $7,000 and $15,000, depending on what appliances or hazardous materials were left behind. Multiply that by dozens to hundreds of demolitions, and that means a taxpayer burden. And, given the real estate market, there’s no guarantee the municipality will have its lien settled in a timely manner. In Brigantine, officials were unsure what the potential demolitions could end up costing. “It would mean that now the taxpayers are on the hook,” Stevens said, but he — and other officials — said there are major benefits to eliminating public health hazards and eyesores. Investors have been buying up severely damaged homes to tear down and resell the property. That’s one solution, Fromosky said, but it won’t work in every case. Fromosky said the state hasn’t provided much guidance, although the Department of Environmental Protection calls regularly to ask how many properties the township has demolished. “We give them the same answers every week,” he said. “Eventually, we’ll get to the same page. Right now, we’re not exactly there.” A DEP spokesman said abandoned property is primarily a local issue. With so much cost and uncertainty, and other more pressing issues, Little Egg hasn’t moved forward with municipally financed demolitions. “One headache at a time,” Fromosky said. In Brigantine’s case, officials said, the city modeled its ordinances after what’s taken place in Atlantic City. There, the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority has allocated about $4.6 million to demolishing and repairing abandoned properties. The authority, which is tasked with developing the state-run Tourism District, has identified about 150 properties in need of demolition or repair. Many of those properties were abandoned long before Sandy, but they present many of the same problems: cracked sidewalks, trash-filled lots and unsafe structures. Contact Wallace McKelvey: 609-272-7256 WMcKelvey@pressofac @wjmckelvey on Twitter Powered by TECNAVIA Copyright © 1970-2013 Press of Atlantic City Media Group 10/18/2013
Posted on: Fri, 18 Oct 2013 12:54:12 +0000