A recent report discusses the next step in the Parish's efforts to address blighted properties (client link - non client link) following the passing of the recent deadline.

Per the Parish Council;
"The following properties have been declared by the St. Bernard Parish Council as public health and safety hazards and subject to our expedited demolition process under parish ordinances. These properties are substantially damaged beyond repair, and the owners have not filed for any permits for repairs, rehabilitation or reconstruction in the year following Hurricane Katrina. Therefore, said properties appear to have been abandoned by their owners.
The owners of any properties listed below must contact Community Development immediately if they wish to appeal this decision or get a building or appropriate permit for said premises."
 
To view the first list of properties condemned by the City Council, please click on the following

 STPG City Council Demo list.xls

St. Bernard begins demolition process on 602 properties that were abandoned by owners or were totally destroyed in storm

On Tuesday the St. Bernard Parish Council today took the first step toward demolishing storm-damaged homes belonging to residents who have ignored the parish's gutting ordinance by accepting for condemnation a list of 602 residential and commercial properties.

But there is still an appeal process in which the owners can show what they have done to improve their property by going to the parish Office of Community Development or they can sign up to have a damaged home demolished free by parish government. They will have a short period of time to come in to say they are working to improve their property.

Council members will meet again Thursday to fine tune the process of forced demolitions.

The Council voted 7-0 to start the demolition process on the initial batch of 602 properties.

The 602 come from a list that totaled about 4,000 blighted houses that could all be demolished if their owners don’t respond to repeated attempts to get them to do something to improve their property or sign up to have them voluntarily demolished.

There is also a separate list in which several thousand homeowners have already registered to voluntarily have homes demolished. More than 1,800 homes have been torn down under that parish program in which a private contractor does the job and FEMA reimburses the parish for the cost.

If homeowners on the initial list of 602 addresses for forced demolition take no action their home will eventually be knocked down and they run the risk of having to pay for 10 percent of demolition cost if the home or business is razed after Dec. 31 when FEMA is scheduled to stop giving 100 percent reimbursement to the parish for the cost of a tear-down. The share of reimbursement drops to 90-10 after Dec. 31 unless FEMA extends its self-imposed deadline.

Parish Council members stressed all the ones in the initial group were properties rated as having 100 percent damage in an initial assessment last fall and none of the owners have responded to parish government’s attempts to get them to do something.

“A year has passed and these are homeowners who have never contacted the parish,’’ said Council member Ricky Melerine, who represents the easternmost part of the parish which includes many of the homes on the demolition list approved Tuesday. “We can’t let houses just sit (unattended to) when we are trying to get people back here.’’ He noted many of the listed properties in his district are actually no more than a few pilings where houses once stood.

Council Vice-Chairman Joseph DiFatta Jr. and Council member Craig Taffaro Jr. both emphasized the start of the demolition process isn’t aimed at hurting property owners but rather is an attempt to clean up St. Bernard for people who are currently rebuilding here and don’t want to live in areas of ungutted homes and overgrown weeds.

“It’s an effort to make the parish clean,’’ and attractive for people who want to live here, DiFatta said.

“This is what we have been working on for some time,’’ said Taffaro.

The parish had set Aug. 29 - the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina - for owners to gut and secure their structures. Officials have said passing such an ordinance - and enforcing it - is an important step in speeding the parish's recovery because it would force owners to clean up their properties.

Katrina flooded nearly every one of the parish's approximately 25,000 homes, as well as thousands of businesses.

Property owners will have a notice posted on their house or business and notices are being posted in the parish legal journal and the parish website.