Flood-damaged homes on the way out
Neighbours are happy to see longvacant properties dealt with but are still concerned for three others with no current plan
Work began this week to remove asbestos from longvacant, flood-damaged homes ahead of planned demolition next month, official with the city’s land and properties office said Tuesday.
That could substantially increase costs of the city program that aimed to take over and clear the lots left derelict since the June 2013 flood.
Nearby neighbours who have called the former rental units unhealthy and dangerous are happy to see them go after almost four years.
They are worried though, as three other homes in the area remain vacant after those owners turned down the city’s offer.
Brenda MacNeill lives across the street from three of the houses that sit in a row on Elm Street, two of which are now property of the city and are slated for demolition.
“I’m just glad that they’re going,” said MacNeill, who lives on the block, just down from Elm Street School.
She is concerned about vacant houses becoming health hazards or attracting criminal activity.
“I just don’t know why it’s taken so long.”
Many Hatters had similar questions about how a property could be left vacant, without utility service and with visible damage.
They were certified as uninhabitable by health officials, but were also deemed too expensive to renovate.
Several owners contacted by the News last year said fixing or demolishing to rebuild the houses was beyond their means.
Last summer, the city took the extraordinary step of offering to pay the assessed land value of the properties — between $37,000 and $64,000 each — so lots could be sold for infill development.
Work has commenced this week at 1124 and 1126 Elm St., as well as 1250 Bridge St.
The city could market them for resale very quickly after demolition is complete in June, say officials.
Offers were also extended but not accepted by owners of rental units at 1110 Elm St. and 648 Industrial Ave., as well as an owner-occupied home at 1312 Elm St.
Funding comes from left-over portions of a 2013 program that saw 13 lots acquired by the city after owners sold buildings to the provincial relocation program.
That program however, excluded income properties and five of the six houses in question were rentals.
Council members and administrators offered a way for owners to recuperate some money from income properties while improving the neighbourhood.
The sixth house was a residence but was the subject of a disagreement between the owner and disaster relief program administrators.
The structure of the city’s offer price included an estimated demolition cost at about $10,000 per house. That was downgraded to $6,000, though officials say asbestos protocols will add about $65,000.
That amount will be absorbed and recovered when the lots are eventually resold, said Grant MacKay, manager of the land and business support office.
“(The pricing includes) sufficient revenue generating capacity to address these unanticipated costs and recoup (departmental) costs related to these properties,” said MacKay.
Two of the three houses need abatement, a process that could take 30 days to be certified complete.
General demolition could begin in mid-June, said Dave Curtis, a property manager with the city.
Asbestos was a common component of shingles, insulation, stucco and tiles prior to 1980. It is considered generally safe if left undisturbed, but removal requires strict abatement procedures to prevent the cancer-causing material from being inhaled.
Curtis also noted that the three properties bring the total of properties bought by the city since the 1995 flood to 61.
Of those, 39 relate to that year’s flood, six on Iron Avenue were turned into reserve after high water in 2010. Recent purchases bring the 2013 portfolio to 16.