Urban Renewal Agency Approves Asbestos Inspection Surveys By: Dennis Phillips, Post-Journal

From the Jamestown Post Journal

On Friday, the Jamestown Urban Renewal Agency approved asbestos inspection surveys for 29 dilapidated properties so they can be removed from city neighborhoods. Vince DeJoy, city development director, said city officials went through the request for proposal process to find a company to do the asbestos housing surveys. He said Aurora Environmental gave the best price per property for the inspections. He added that by bundling all the surveys for the houses together, they were able to save 50 percent of the costs compared to if they had done each house individually.

''One of the biggest things JURA does, in terms of dollars, is demolitions,'' DeJoy said.

By working with the Chautauqua County Land Bank Corporation, DeJoy said they will use grant money from the state Office of the Attorney General to demolish the houses, which were acquired through the county's foreclosure auction.

The Land Bank received a $1.5 million grant from the state Attorney General's Office in 2013. Then, in 2014, Schneiderman awarded the land bank a second grant of $1.3 million. The money is for assisting state land banks in rebuilding and restoring neighborhoods hit hard by the housing crisis.

Sam Teresi, Jamestown mayor, said if asbestos is found in the house it will have to be abated, which is the case for most demolished houses. However, he said if no environmental issues are discovered during the surveys, the next step is to demolish the property.

In other business, DeJoy said the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development has put the city on notice that they need a new fair housing plan. He said the plan takes a lot of time to analyze each city property, which the city's Development Department cannot do with the duties they already have to accomplish. He added they have sent out request for proposals to agencies that produce fair housing plans.

The funding to produce the new fair housing plan will come from Community Development Block Grant money, of which HUD will allocate a little more than $1 million to the city in 2015. DeJoy said it is a three-to-six month process to produce a new fair housing plan. He said if they don't produce a new plan, HUD could reduce the amount of CDBG money they receive.