First notices to vacant building owners mailed

AKRON — Five months into a vacant registry program for commercial properties, the city is appointing citizens to oversee the effort as hundreds of property owners are put on notice.

The city’s main arteries — Arlington Street, Kenmore Boulevard, Main Street, Copley Road and Market Street — are clogged with dozens of empty, or mostly empty, businesses. The registry, created in June with legislation, is designed to identify each empty industrial or commercial space and require owners to submit plans for future use.

The program is funded by a registration fee and penalties collected from owners who don’t participate in the revitalization of eyesores scattered across Akron.

The program, modeled after others in Ohio cities, was embraced by City Council members whose residents complain regularly about crumbling buildings that attract crime, blight and depress nearby property values.

Ward 1 Councilman Rich Swirsky, a co-sponsor of the legislation creating the program, said his community has torn down vacant buildings for years, routinely planting community gardens in their place. But, “you can only have so many gardens,” said Swirksy, who has shifted the focus to finding new economic development uses for old factories and office buildings.

John Valle, Akron’s director of Neighborhood Assistance, is supervising the registry. His team of housing inspectors has mailed 305 letters ordering owners to detail plans for the vacant buildings they own in Akron.

Analysis of 271 property addresses on the registry shows that 91 percent are owned by Ohio companies or individuals.

About 30 percent are located outside Akron, though that number could be higher as companies sometimes list post office boxes in the city to receive legal paperwork.

In the first month of mailing out notices, the city has collected $2,000 in registration fees on six properties. A second round of mailings capturing even more vacant properties is scheduled for late November.

“We know there’s more,” Valle said, imploring residents to help his staff identify vacant buildings by calling the 311 hotline or using the city’s online portal.

The first round of properties were compiled from Akron Fire Department records and a 2015 Thriving Communities from the Western Reserve Land Conservancy, which has advocated for responsible property ownership and rehabbing instead of always demolishing.

Valle has high and immediate hopes for the effort. “We’re hoping to have some quick wins,” Valle told council Monday.