Two Condemned City Houses Demolished Monday By: Dennis Phillips, Post-Journal

From the Jamestown Post Journal

The houses were located at 245 and 254 Willard St. Vince DeJoy, city development director, said with money from the state's Attorney General Office through the Chautauqua County Land Bank and city funds from the general fund and Community Development Block Grant Money, the two condemned houses were torn down. DeJoy said there will be a total of four dilapidated properties torn down in the city this week.

DeJoy said city officials are planning to demolish 15 properties in the next three months, which is unprecedented in volume. Half of the funding comes from the first $1.5 million grant the state gave the Chautauqua County Land Bank in 2013. The city is paying the other half of the demolition cost with federal Community Development Grant Block money. Earlier this year, DeJoy said city officials plan to allocate $160,000 of the $1,054,609 in federal block grant money toward neighborhood target area demolitions. This money will be used to provide demolitions to housing units in low-to-moderate-income areas that threaten public health and safety.

''Having the funding, all at once, allowed for this,'' DeJoy said about the demolition program.

DeJoy said the process of tearing down a condemned house takes awhile. First, asbestos surveys need to be done at each condemned house. Those that have asbestos then need to be abated before the house can be torn down. He said the cost to demolish a house is between $10,000-$50,0000 depending on the abatement process and the size of the house.

''We've bundled our resources together to leverage for a better price,'' DeJoy said about the plan to tear down 25 condemned houses in the city during 2015.

In 2014, 27 residential properties that were abandoned in Jamestown were targeted for demolition. The demolitions started in September, with the initial one being done on First Street. Other streets with houses on the city's list includes Allen, Crossman, Liberty, North Main, Spring, Thayer Tower, Water, Westcott, West 15th, West 16th, Weeks and Steele.

In October, Eric Schneiderman, state attorney general, announced his office awarded the Chautauqua County Land Bank a second grant of $1.3 million that will be used for tearing down residential and, for the first time, mixed-use - residential and commercial - properties.