Redevelopment experts advise local officials at Westmoreland 'blight boot camp'

If local officials want to start the uphill fight to combat blight and begin revitalizing their communities, multiple speakers at a “blight boot camp” held Friday at Westmoreland County Community College said they’ve got to start on the ground.

Multiple speakers, including Christy Bean Rowing, executive director of the Washington Citywide Development Corp., and Eric Chandler, council president in Canonsburg, also in Washington County, said descriptive inventories of the decaying and abandoned properties in town are vital when it comes to unlocking grants and funding from government and private sources.

Rowing said when she took over the job in 2016, she had 32 high school students canvass properties in that city’s 8th Ward over an Easter weekend. The next year, she said area Rotarians volunteered to document the blight in another section of town.

“Inventories of what properties are blighted are vital. That is what generates funding,” she said.

Chandler said that after he was elected, he drove around the borough himself, recording addresses of blighted properties and turned the information over to Canonburg’s land use officer to develop a more detailed report.

Chandler said the borough got funding through creation of those reports to fund the demolition of one blighted structure and purchase a second one that was sold and refurbished by a neighboring property owner.

Brian Lawrence, executive director of Westmoreland County’s Redevelopment Authority and Land Bank, said more than 125 elected officials and municipal leaders, including government staff, code enforcement officers, state officials and real estate agents signed up for the event.

Lawrence said he was pleased that attendees included government officials for many nearby counties throughout Western Pennsylvania, including Allegheny, Fayette and Lawrence counties.

“Blight is a universal problem,” Lawrence said.

Lawrence said he hoped Friday’s event provides leaders with the needed tools, community connections and new processes to deal with the problem that impacts rural and urban communities alike.

Presenters Friday afternoon included keynote speaker Brian Larkin, executive director of the National Land Bank Network, and Kim Graziani of the Center for Community Progress.

Westmoreland officials believe there are more than 1,200 dilapidated buildings scattered throughout the county’s 65 municipalities. The county, through its redevelopment authority and land bank, has made blight a primary issue for this year.

The agency, through state grants and its demolition program, has about $500,000 to spend to demolish blighted structures. The agency is funded through $15 surcharges assessed to deed and mortgage filings.

The redevelopment authority has conducted inventories in Greensburg, Latrobe and Monessen, where as many as 400 structures have been identified as blighted.

Shari Marino, manager of Irwin, was among those who attended the seminars.

“I’m happy to have something like this so close. We have a great relationship with the county redevelopment authority and land bank,” Marino said.

Last year, with local help, Marino said the borough secured funding to demolish two old houses.

“We’re looking for any information here today that will help improve our community,” Marino said.

Unity Township Supervisor Mike O’Barto said the township also has “a few problems with blight.”

“We’re here looking for anything that will help us out. We’ve actually used the land bank expertise that enabled us to demolish some old places,” he said.

Although Friday was the county’s first “blight boot camp,” Lawrence said the county plans to make it an annual event.

More information on the issue is available the redevelopment authority’s page on the county website.