Land Bank Reviews Purchase Proposals By: Jimmy McCarthy, Post-Journal

From the Jamestown Post Journal

During a Thursday meeting of the Acquisition and Disposition Committee, members worked through a full agenda from purchase proposals from interested parties, mixed-use demolitions and policy related to donations.

Members discussed five purchase proposals by interested parties from Dunkirk to Westfield areas. In particular, members spoke highly of a detailed proposal at 734 Main St. in Dunkirk that would create rental units.

"It's a detailed, itemized list of everything that's needed," said Mark Geise, executive director of the Land Bank Corporation. "The proposal gets to the fact that the exterior is very important."

Preliminary proposals are also coming in pertaining to a home on 77 Union St. in Westfield as well as property located on 4199 Bruyer Road in Stockton.

Members also discussed mixed-use demolitions and what could be done to bring blighted areas back to life. At the Portage Inn in Westfield, the structure is rotting after sitting idle for many years, according to Geise. The land bank is in the process of working with village officials on finding a solution to the blighted property while seeking a useful benefit to the public.

"It's a perfect access to the baseball fields in that area," Geise said, adding the location has positive components for public benefit. "It could also provide parking to go downtown."

A building on Main Street in Brocton is also being discussed between village officials and the land bank.

Vacant side lots throughout Chautauqua County are progressively making their way back onto the tax rolls as the land bank acts as an agency to the county in transferring properties. Up to this point, the process of adjoining vacant lots with nearby ones is seeing success, according to James Caflisch, director of the Chautauqua County Real Property Tax Office. Several other vacant side lots are going through the process, and over 12 side lots are back on the tax rolls, he said.

"The revenue is coming back in property tax, and this philosophy is working," he said.

Gina Paradis, administrative director for the land bank, said if members of a community know that a home next door is up for demolition, they should contact the land bank for more information.

The land bank is also considering donations based on the community's interest to remove blight from gateways, Paradis said.

"We're reviewing our policies in consideration of donations and what our criteria will be," she said.