Blight Working Group to survey Washington
Katie Anderson/Observer-Reporter
The redevelopment authority will begin demolition of this building at W. Chestnut and North Main streets.
The windows of this Washington building have been boarded up.
“Keep out” was spray painted on the door of this building in Washington that may soon be demolished.
The Washington Blight Working Group (WBWG), established last year, plans to survey every property within the city of Washington, starting with the Seventh Ward later this month.
State Rep. Tim O’Neal, R-South Strabane, who is a member of the blight group, said the plan is to begin surveying properties in the Seventh Ward during the last weekend in March, and continue over the following two weekends.
“If we pull that off, we should be able to survey a good portion of the city this year,” he said.
When asked why the group would survey all properties instead of focusing on blight, O’Neal said the purpose was to collect a “complete inventory.”
“They will be evaluating essentially every property in the city,” he said. “The idea is that we get a complete picture of the community.”
He said the group has not yet established a timeline for completing the entire city, but “the focus for this spring will be the Seventh Ward.”
The surveys, O’Neal said, will be conducted by volunteers coordinated through the blight group, which includes representatives from his office, the city, Blueprints, Citywide Development Corporation, East Washington, Highland Ridge CDC, Dreamers Company, Washington & Jefferson College, Washington County Redevelopment Authority, and the county’s Geographic Information System.
The group was established last May, following a blight roundtable O’Neal hosted in Canonsburg. O’Neal said with this group coming together to look at each Washington property, it will be able to determine which organization, nonprofit or agency involved would be best suited to work on a solution to any blight issues that may be present during the surveys.
According to a news release from O’Neal’s office in collaboration with the group, the surveys will help officials meet their goal of cleaning up neglected neighborhoods as a whole, instead of tackling a few individual properties a year.
The release also said the surveys will help the group locate homes, building and properties that may need rehabilitation, renovation or demolition. They also want to help residents that may need financial assistance in becoming homebuyers.
Another goal is to “create more owner-occupied residences,” since the city’s properties are more than 50% rental, according to the news release. O’Neal said the group wants to find a way to provide an incentive to landlords to sell their properties to homebuyers that plan to live there.
Washington Mayor Scott Putnam, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday, said in the news release the city “has much to offer young families, and we want to ensure that our homes can house the next generation of Washingtonians.”
WBWG said in the news release it wants to find landlords that might be “looking for an exit strategy. The group plans to send letters to every landlord, in search of feedback on “what would help them decide to sell properties to homeowners.”
O’Neal said the group is working through nonprofits and the city to approach landlords to start conversations and to try to leverage some existing home buying or selling programs, in an effort to reduce the rental percentage.
“It’s a lofty goal at this point, but I think it illustrates how the group is trying to address blight a little bit differently than what’s been done in the past,” he said.
The release said the volunteers will be wearing identification while visiting neighborhoods to survey. The group said in the release any data collected from the volunteers “will remain confidential and will not be used by code enforcement.”
WBWG plans to hold an informational session for the public from 6 to 7 p.m. March 24 in the Washington High School cafeteria, for those who want to learn more or want to volunteer to help with the survey.