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Mid Hudson Times, Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Distressed Properties Task Force: Progress being made
By SHANTAL RILEY
[email protected]
Affordable housing, rental inspections and vacant
buildings were among the topics on the agenda at a
Distressed Properties Task Force meeting in the City of
Newburgh last Wednesday.
“We’re making great strides,” task force member and
city Fire Chief Michael Vatter said.
He referenced a 2010 report by the Pace University
Land Use Law Center recommending a three-pronged
approach to rebuilding the city. The plan called for the
creation of a land bank, new zoning and improved code
compliance. “It is now bearing fruit,” he said, noting new
zoning and the land bank were both established.
Regarding code compliance, Vatter said, fire staff have
also finished inspecting all of the city’s vacant properties.
Aside from vacant properties owned by the city and the
Newburgh Community Land Bank, 748 vacant properties
are in private hands, including banks, he said.
“We have sent letters to all of them, stating, ‘If you haven’t registered your property, you must do so,’” he said,
as per the vacant property registration ordinance.
Letters were sent out in October. Two hundred were
returned to sender, he said. “They are now in violation of
code,” Vatter said. “We’re working with courts to see how
we’ll proceed.”
City fire staff have also catalogued all of the city’s rental dwelling units, he said. Rental property owners have
been sent mailings stating they must register buildings
with the city, Vatter said. “We now have a solid database
we’re working from,” he said. “We’ve inspected 600-plus
properties. The firefighters will be going out next week to
start to clear the backlog of inspections of rental units.”
Vatter described a signage project employing signs to
mark the structural integrity of vacant buildings. The
signs display red and white Xs, as well as white