In a continued fight to deal with blight in the area, state Rep. Doyle Heffley and the Carbon Chamber and Economic Development Corporation partnered Thursday for a discussion on the topic in Jim Thorpe.

Gathered in Memorial Hall, state and local leaders highlighted ways to try to prevent blight, but also pinpointed remediation availabilities if problems get too far along.

“We had been contacted a couple months ago about issues of blight in certain communities here in Carbon County,” Heffley said. “Local officials are looking to see what all the tools available are out there to help deal with this. We’re working in the Legislature right now to address LLCs and how they are acquiring properties. We wanted to bring everyone together to see how you go after this on a county level and restore our communities.”

According to Rick Vilello, deputy secretary of community affairs and development for the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, there are around 860,000 blighted structures throughout the state. The challenge for municipalities, he said, comes in addressing blight while still dealing with all of the other functions a government must handle.

“Blight is like cancer,” Vilello said. “It starts small. It may be someone not cutting their grass, or it’s a broken window. But if those things aren’t addressed, then the issues start to grow. If one house becomes blighted, you start to see houses on that block go up for sale or possibly become blighted themselves and it just grows.”

Lacking funds

While many municipalities have the ambition to deal with blight, they may not always have the funds. Andrew Sheaf, local government policy manager for DCED, described a number of state funding opportunities including the Keystone Community Program, Neighborhood Assistance Program and the Pennsylvania Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement Fund.

“Pennsylvania’s Act 152 is another way counties can build up some funds to combat blight,” Sheaf said. “Counties can charge up to $15 for every deed and mortgage recorded and put that toward blight.”

Around 20 counties have the fee in place today. Carbon County is not one of them. Ed Christiano, president of the Northumberland County Housing Authority, said the fee brings in between $7,000 and $8,000 a month to the county.

Sheaf also touched on the Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance program, which Kathy Henderson, director of economic development in Carbon County, is working to bring to Weissport. The tax incentive program encourages property owners to renovate or update a building to encourage businesses to locate and grow in an area. Improvements eligible for the LERTA program include repairs, construction, improvements to alleviate health concerns, economic use and to comply with ordinances or regulations.

“Conservatorship is an option where third parties such as government entities can petition to go in and make repairs to a property that meets certain conditions,” Sheaf said. “It has to be unoccupied for 12 months, not marketed for 60 days and not in the foreclosure process.”

Christiano is a big part of the Fight the Blight Initiative in Northumberland County, which has received multiple $500,000 matching state grants to deal with the issue. It also received a $750,000 grant through the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program.

“Apply for money and have a plan,” he told the crowd Thursday. “You have to take some chances.”

Focus resources

Both Sheaf and Chris Gulotta of the Gulotta Group, consultants who work with communities fighting blight, stressed the importance of trying to prevent code issues.

According to Gulotta, 80 to 90 percent of issues are resolved at the ticketing stage. He recommended issuing tickets with minimal fines for smaller violations like grass that hasn’t been cut.

“One size doesn’t fit all for every problem,” he said. “You have to take the right-sized approach and focus your resources on your biggest problems.”

State Sen. Dave Argall, who chairs the statewide blight task force, said events like the one held Thursday in Jim Thorpe do make a difference. He used Tamaqua as an example of a community making some amazing progress when it comes to blight.

“They took some risks and became the first small-town City Revitalization and Improvement Zone in the state,” Argall said. “Most small boroughs aren’t willing to spend more than a year filling out that application.”

Argall also praised Schuylkill County for adopting the $15 mortgage and deed recording fee through Act 152. Schuylkill County earmarked its money generated through the fee for demolition of blighted properties.

“There was an estimate that it could provide around $67,000 new dollars for demolition in Carbon County, if it also gets on board,” Argall said. “Over 5-10 years, that really adds up. Nobody goes home in government with the whole loaf; you have to do it slice by slice.”

Thursday’s crowd included not just government officials, but also banking officials and individuals from the building and construction industry. Heffley said it’s important for everyone to work together to bring blight to its knees.

“I’m looking forward to what comes out of this today,” Heffley said. “It’s good to get information on what the state is doing and what tools are out there, but it’s also important to get that local feedback from municipalities as to what we can be doing to assist them as they combat this.”