GLOVERSVILLE — In another example of the city government’s “War on Blight” policies, Gloversville is now requiring the owners of buildings destroyed from fire damage to either reimburse the city the cost for demolishing the structures or turn their ownership over to the city.
The Gloversville Common Council voted 6-0 last Tuesday to approve the city Property Disposition Committee’s recommendation to sell two properties conveyed to the city after their previous owners chose not to reimburse the city’s costs for demolishing fire damaged buildings.
“We’re trying to get very aggressive on cleaning up messes and making sure things don’t malinger,” Mayor Vince DeSantis said. “Because, not only are they a detriment to the neighborhood, but they become a dangerous thing for public safety, kids get into vacant buildings and all of that.”
Both properties were sold to neighboring parcel owners:
- 19 Summer St.: sold for $15,000 to Alison I. DuBray and Ronald W. DuBray
- 213 Main St.: sold for $1,600 to Larry McGillis
DeSantis explained the strategy of using demolition costs as leverage to require property owners to either repair damages in a reasonable amount of time or turn the properties over to the city so it can clear the damaged structures and sell the parcels to responsible owners.
“One of the big thrusts of my administration has been to eliminate derelict structures, derelict buildings,” he said. “These are things that are really a detriment to the quality of life of the community and the value of the community.”
While most local governments usually acquire problematic properties is through property tax foreclosure, Gloversville transferred its property tax foreclosure power to Fulton County decades ago as part of something called the ‘Hornell Plan,’ which relieved the city of its obligation to make the Gloversville Enlarged School District whole for unpaid property taxes. However, it also meant that the city’s government lost control over how to deal with some of its worst properties.
One long-running controversy connected to the Hornell Plan was the case of 14 Temple St., in which a two-family home was badly damaged by fire after the building was struck by lightning on July 3, 2014. The property was then purchased by Connie Duncan of Wheatley Heights, Suffolk County, for $2,200 in May 2015, complicating the efforts of both the city and county governments to demolish the blighted structure.
“It was before the court system for a while,” DeSantis said. “It was quite a tug-of-war, and finally the city convinced her to convey it (in 2017) and the city actually took it down.”
The remains of 14 Temple St. were finally demolished in June 2018, after almost four years of sitting as a vacant eyesore.
DeSantis said as long as the city has the funding to support demolitions it should do so in cases where it can speed up the turnaround of fire damaged buildings.
He said in the case of 19 Summer St., which is near McNab Elementary School, he has added the approximately $28,000 cost of demolishing the burned-out vacant structure on it to the city’s $517,100 plan to pay Dan’s Hauling & Demo to demolish seven city-owned brownfield properties.
“The person who owned the property that was damaged by fire, he had the option to either restore the property, repair it, or demolish it, at his expense, and he said he just didn’t have the money to do that,” DeSantis said. “That property is next door to McNab School. It’s an eyesore. It’s detrimental to the neighborhood. It’s been vacant since the fire, and the city agreed to take title to it, and then [sell it] because the owner next door is willing to spend a substantial amount of money for it.”
