Nesquehoning now has a blight plan in place.

On Wednesday, the borough council voted to approve the newly created action plan pending the solicitor’s review. The plan was created by the blight committee that was formed late last year.

The goal of the plan is to help the borough navigate how to identify properties, engage the community, apply for grants and work to remediate properties before they become blighted buildings.

Councilwoman Abbie Guardiani outlined the plan, saying that it is not set in stone, but will be updated as the borough moves forward in the fight against blight.

“The blight plan is a road map ... a pathway,” she said. “As our town changes, the plan will change.

“The biggest lesson our blight committee learned while writing this plan is we have been fighting blight the wrong way. We’re fighting blight at the end when we’re trying to tear down buildings. That’s not how you fight blight. You fight blight at the beginning. You prevent it and you remediate and hopefully have to never tear down buildings but unfortunately we have to fight it at all ends until we get progress. We are making progress.”

She thanked the committee members for their hard work in getting the plan together.

Last September, Guardiani and her husband came to council asking about a blight plan, which didn’t exist at that time. The reason was because of four burned out properties that sat unsecured on High Street, which were creating both an eyesore and a safety hazard.

In addition to the plan, Guardiani and the blight committee has worked with the borough to create a database to allow easy access to updates and any blight that is identified and violations that are issued; as well as met with the fire chiefs and police chief to identify extremely blighted properties that could pose a threat to emergency personnel if a fire were to occur in one of the structures.

Guardiani said information has been input in the computer aided dispatching system that there is a threat of collapse or other issue in order to alert fire personnel responding to be cautious or not enter the structure.

Council also agreed to file a nuisance action on property owned by Mr. Claypoole at 109 and 111 W. Catawissa Street.

Solicitor Robert Yurchak said the action would require the building to either be cleaned up or torn down because it has been in disrepair for several years and is continuing to deteriorate.

“It is filled with junk,” Councilman Louis Paul said of 111 W. Catawissa.

If the owner doesn’t comply, he would be held in contempt, Yurchak said.

Properties being cleaned up