Summit County must become more aggressive in identifying and fixing the growing problem of abandoned and vacant properties, a countywide task force has concluded.
The 15-member group, which has been studying the issue since late 2008, presented its findings and recommendations Wednesday to about 200 elected officials and community leaders at the Akron-Summit County Public Library.
The number of abandoned and vacant properties has sprawled beyond urban communities as residents lost their homes in the mortgage crisis and banks walked away from properties, the task force said.
Last year, banks filed more than 4,000 foreclosure lawsuits in the county, the fourth consecutive year the suits have topped 4,000.
County Councilman Cazzell Smith Sr., who chaired the task force, said he traveled through East Akron five years ago and found 443 vacant properties within a two-mile area. A follow-up survey last year revealed the number had grown to 523.
''That caused an alarm for us,'' he said.
The properties have become attractive targets for drug dealers and criminals, and are public health hazards, the group said. They also damage property values and neighborhood morale.
The Summit County Abandoned and Vacant Property Task Force — made up of elected officials, business leaders and nonprofits — made four recommendations:
• Create a central database identifying vacant and abandoned properties. There currently is no central repository, making it difficult to assess and combat the problem, officials said.
The Summit County Health Department would oversee the database and help analyze trends and map problem areas.
• Develop a specialty housing court similar to those operating in Cleveland and Franklin County. The court would handle cases involving housing issues only.
• Create local land banks, which allow governments to buy properties and save them for development.
Officials suggested a pilot program for the Summit Lake neighborhood in Akron.
• Promote community gardens and green space, and rehab or tear down blighted properties.
The recommendations are fantastic and realistic, many leaders said, but they mean nothing if they aren't implemented. The task force has called for the formation of an ad hoc committee to follow through to turn the proposals into reality.
Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray, who attended the meeting, called the suggestions ''intelligent and sensible.''
''You don't always get both,'' he said.
He also said he planned to share them with other communities throughout the state that are struggling with the same issue.
Alethea Rantanes, a Clinton resident and the village's zoning inspector, was encouraged by the recommendations and noted that it's a problem throughout the county, not exclusive to cities.
''I think it's a great start,'' she said.
But Rantanes added that she wants to see government leaders hold banks more responsible for causing the blight, possibly by levying large fines against them.
Edgar and Cindi Robins live in the shadow of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. in East Akron, a neighborhood that has been overrun with vacant and abandoned properties.
It's unsettling and unsafe to live there now, she said. Her neighborhood has been hit with a rash of fires in vacant houses, said Robins, 69, a retired U.S. postal carrier.
''You don't sleep good at night,'' she said.
''I would rather see them demolish the houses and plant grass than have them sit and board them up,'' said Robins, who did not attend Wednesday's meeting. ''If you're going to have a house boarded up and it's going to be boarded up for six months, tear it down.''
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To view the Task Force's report, please click here
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