Four City Properties Closer to Official Blight Designation

Four properties of 28 of a list of vacant and run-down properties moved one step closer to receiving an official city designation as blighted Wednesday evening.

The Easton Planning Commission unanimously approved the recommendations of the for 373 Nesquehoning St., 430 West Lincoln St., 501 Northampton St., and 51 South Warren St. to preliminarily assess the properties as blighted as per the state building code.

The properties will now be inspected by the city codes officer and potentially be certified as blighted if it is found repairs have not been made.

Property owners have 30 days to appeal the planning commission's decision, City Planning Director Becky Bradley said.

If no timely appeal is made and the property is found to still meet the blight designation, the city inspector will pass the property back to the vacant properties committee to make the recommendation for official certification of blight, and the matter will be officially revisited by the planning commission to make it official.

A blight designation allows the city to take legal steps to seize or sell the property for redevelopment.

The four properties all have a long history of neglect and disrepair, and meet the criteria for blight on several counts, though only one of a list of criteria need to be met, Bradley said.

“This is a last resort enforcement tool,” Bradley said, noting that in the case of the Nesquehoning Street property the city has received no response to its letters to the owner in more than two years.

The properties chosen out of the 28 are those the city considers the highest priorities because of their conditions as well as locations.

is near and poses an attractive nuisance in addition to being a fire hazard, Bradley said. Additionally, the roof is caving in, she said.

While the property is owned by a city resident, no viable plan or progress has been made on the property's condition, and some the city has seen some interest in it from developers, said Easton Redevelopment Authority Director Gretchen Longenbach.

“At this point, we feel this is our best bet to see something positive for that site,” Longenbach said, adding that converting the former factory buildings to a residential use seems most feasible.

The Hooper House, owned by the nearby Rock Church, is “a significant historical resource for the Downtown district” but hasn't been occupied in more than two decades, Bradley said.

“The concern with this property has been that it's been vacant for so long and the sort of 'one-square-inch-at-a-time philosophy towards maintenances,” she said, adding that to date no project permitted and begun by the owners has been completed in some years.

At 51 South Warren, the house has been placarded as unfit for human habitation since 2003, and despite the property being sold to a new investor in 2007, no work has occurred since.

With the business of the properties under consideration for blight designation along with the other

planning business, members and the public can expect two meetings a month through April, Bradley said.

“Before, we wouldn't pursue these properties unless the redevelopment authority had the money to acquire it,” Bradley said. “But we decided it was time to send a message, either fix it or sell it...We have been cleaning and liening and cleaning and liening again and again.”