Elmira City Council vote to repeal & replace monthly “Fight on Blight” list

ELMIRA, N.Y. (WETM) – On Monday the Elmira City Council will vote to repeal and replace the city’s monthly “Fight on Blight” list. The vote is set for 5:30 p.m. at City Hall.

A bipartisan resolution first approved in April called for publishing a monthly list of rental properties that fail to address code violations in a timely manner, are not properly registered or have refused inspections. The city will vote on repealing that resolution and replacing the list with a new housing report from the City Manager on the 15th of every month.

Monday’s resolution reads: “Act on resolution repealing in its entirety Resolution 2024-145, the City Manager shall issue a report on the City’s efforts to fight blight and promote housing on or before the 15th of every month to include information on programs, partnerships, grants, enforcement actions, including civil filings, and that the requirement for monthly reporting
remain in effect until December 16, 2027.”

“Basically, we’re just going to amend it,” Mayor Dan Mandell told 18 News. “Originally, during the reporting aspect of this resolution, we were going to have a list put out by our Code Department of delinquent properties. After discussion with the city manager and the Code Director, we thought we’d be able to do that fairly simply, that it would be something we could extrapolate, but it became more burdensome than what we thought we’d be able to do.”

Mayor Mandell says a new monthly report from the City Manager will be more comprehensive, including both code violations and positive developments in Elmira’s housing market.

“So now we’re going back and redoing the resolution to give the city manager the discretion of what can go on that report every month, whether it be court, cases that have been adjudicated against these properties,” the Mayor added. “Also bring some positive things that are happening with housing Elmira, whether it be renovations, infill projects, saying that you were a pro housing community, putting on persistent violators of code, which the Code Director will be able to point out and add to that report”So, it gives the city manager more discretion when going on the report. It’s just not narrowed down to a list that’s generated from a database.”

Mandell says the new monthly report will still include names and addresses of property owners with multiple active code violations.

“It’s all public information, so that’ll be on there too,” Mandell said. “So, it’s going to be our persistent violators that continuously refuse to address their code violations and continue to get more code violations.”

“It could also vacant properties that haven’t been addressed, maybe rental registration issues that haven’t been addressed. So, it actually widens it up more for what can be in that report. I think it’s a good thing that we’ve done this. I think it definitely needed to be amended with anything else you know, with anything that’s brand new, you always have growing pains, and you’ll learn as you go.”

The initial “Fight on Blight” resolution was co-sponsored by Mayor Mandell and fourth district councilmember Gary Brinn.

In a Facebook post , councilman Brinn said in part:

“We are doing this for two primary reasons: 1) There is a lag in data on property transfers. This made it hard to insure the accuracy of the rental registration report. The Code Violation Report was accurate, but time consuming given ongoing staffing challenges. 2) Our “Fight on Blight” includes other focus areas not covered in the original resolution, including vacant/zombie property, and infill development. “

“We’re even working to make registration requirements and expectations uniform for vacant, rentals, commercial, and industrial.

“We’ve received permission to pursue housing cases in City Court, and have heard the landlord requests to hold tenants responsible when appropriate.

“In other words, our “Fight on Blight” has been successful in ways we had not anticipated. “

“There is absolutely nothing wrong with the intent of the original resolution, and we will continue to aggressively pursue those who cause blight conditions in our city through their greed and negligence.”

You can read councilmember Brinn’s full statement on his Facebook page .

On Monday the City Council will also vote to apply for $851,236 from the New York State Vacant Rental Improvement Program (V-RIP). The money would be used to fix up vacant properties and put them back on the rental market. The city is hosting a community meeting on the program on Wednesday, September 11th at 10 a.m. at the Steele Memorial Library .

You can view the full agenda for Monday’s City Council meeting here.

Status of Erie Plaza

We also asked Mayor Mandell about the city’s efforts to demolish some of the most unsafe properties on the list. When asked about the abandoned Erie Plaza, Mayor Mandell said: “I believe we are proceeding with legal matters against them, but that’s what we normally do, try to get them to court. We have to wait for that to work.

An active code violation at 826 Erie Street says, “Building is very unsafe and is in disrepair, partially collapsed.” The violation has been active since April 18, 2023. The property has been vacant for nearly 20 years.

The “Fight on Blight” list says the owner “Tasty Alimentos, LLC” with an address in Niagara Falls. In an interview on October 26, 2023, owner Jawed Syed told 18 News he was working with an architect to design a plan to secure the property and redevelop the plaza. 18 News has made repeated attempts to reach Mr. Syed to ask for an update on his plans. Our calls have not been returned.

Cost of demolishing 909 Davis Street

We also learned how much the city paid to demolish one of the properties on the list: 909 Davis Street. That’s next to the former Rossi Lanes Bowling Alley.

An invoice obtained by 18 News shows the city paid $3,750 to tear down a home that had its roof caving in. The price doesn’t include the removing the pile of debris, which is still there today. Public records show the property owner’s address is in the Bronx. The city says the cost of the demolition was added to the owner’s tax bill. The demo was performed by LCP Group, Inc., based in Vestal, New York.

Which properties will be demolished next?

Mayor Mandell told says the city is currently studying which blighted properties will be demolished next.

“It’s still being assessed right now. A lot of it obviously comes down to cost,” Mayor Mandell said. Frankly, it’s the property owner’s responsibility to take these down. They don’t do it, so we end up having to take it down. We put it on their tax bill. Sometimes we can recoup it if they decide to pay that fee. A lot of times, the city ends up having to pay for it. So that’s the problem.”

“We do have a budget item that we put in for demolitions this year. I don’t believe we put anything in, but next year, I’m sure we’ll be discussing putting money in for demolitions. We also work with the Chemung County Land Bank . A lot of times these properties go through foreclosure, they’ll take control of them and then demolish them for us as they get some grant money. So, it is a joint effort between the city and the county. As far as demos are concerned, it’s a case by case.”

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