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Chandler program clears city of dilapidated buildings By Weldon B. Johnson The Republic | azcentral.com Tue Mar 5, 2013 7:30 AM A vacant, dilapidated building is more than an eyesore to residents of the surrounding neighborhood. That empty building can pose hazards, including fire, safety, crime and illegal dumping. With that in mind, Chandler’s Code Enforcement Unit and other city departments have been attempting to rid the city’s neighborhoods of such structures. Among the city’s most-effective tools is the Voluntary Demolition Program. Since the first house was torn down on East Saragosa Street in January 2012, nearly a dozen other blighted structures have been razed, although some were demolished by their owners outside of the program. “Nothing good comes from open, blighted properties,” Chandler Neighborhood Resources Director Jennifer Morrison said. “The Voluntary Demolition Program was the seed for a lot of different outcomes resulting in the elimination of, or securing, or planning for the rehabilitation, of blighted properties in our neighborhoods.” The Voluntary Demolition Program began in 2011 and grew from emphasis by Mayor Jay Tibshraeny and the City Council on improving the city’s older neighborhoods. The program is funded by $140,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant money. If the property owner meets certain guidelines, the program will pay 75 percent of the cost of demolishing a residential structure. The property owner can pay the remainder up front or have a lien placed on the property, in which case the city is reimbursed when the property is sold. Neighborhood Preservation Manager Malcolm Hankins, who heads the Code Enforcement Unit, estimates the cost of demolishing the structures to be $13,000 to $20,000. A significant portion of that is the requirement to test for the presence of asbestos. If any is found, there are additional costs for the removal, and monitoring during removal, of the hazardous material. After the structure is demolished and debris removed, a layer of gravel is placed on the property and the owner is encouraged to have the vacant lot fenced. Fencing can discourage illegal dumping or having the lot used as a pass-through for pedestrian or vehicular traffic. The city initiated the program by consulting with staff members from a variety of departments, including code enforcement, police and fire, to identify open, abandoned and dilapidated structures. Those were then secured by boarding up, and the owners were contacted. If the property owner chooses to take part in the program, the city evaluates the structure and determines if it qualifies for the demolition program. “The key is it’s voluntary,” Hankins said. “We’ve had some homeowners who have elected to do the demolition on their own, independent of the program. Some of them have had the equipment and resources to get it done themselves. Some don’t want to spend the time it takes to use the program. When you use federal funding, you have to go through a fairly significant bid process for every phase.” Other owners choose to rehabilitate their property to bring it back to community standards. There are some who do not respond to the city at all. “On some occasions when folks don’t comply with the ordinance, we’ve had to go through court to get that done,” Hankins said. Five structures were torn down as part of the Voluntary Demolition Program in 2012, and six more have been demolished by their owners without using program funds. There are two other houses that have been approved for the program, and the city is in the process of securing contractors to do the demolition. Accordingly, Morrison said the program works. “It has created a much more secured environment in the neighborhoods,” Morrison said. “I believe it also says to residents that the city of Chandler has your neighborhood on its radar and we understand the condition this unit is in, it’s not positive and we’re going to remedy that.” |
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