Ready or not, homes to come down

St. Bernard Parish government is set to begin the process of demolishing homes that are ungutted, structurally damaged or apparently abandoned.

Inspectors have fanned out across the parish to observe homes on a list of 4,000 blighted properties to determine whether the owners have complied with the Parish Council's Aug. 29 deadline to have the structures gutted and secured. Administrators hope to present council members with as many as 100 properties at each council meeting -- starting Tuesday -- for the council to formally condemn.

On Tuesday the council will vote to introduce the list of properties to be condemned. That list will be advertised before a final vote is taken.

In setting the gutting deadline -- the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina -- officials hoped to speed recovery by forcing property owners to clean up their home or face the parish knocking it down and charging them whatever it cost.

About 27,000 homes were flooded during Katrina. Parish officials said they expect to have to condemn for demolition as many as 4,000 homes.

Council members said the tough stance is important to make the parish a safer place to live for those residents who are returning and renovating their flood-damaged properties. The deadline also required residents and business owners to clean their homes of mold and to secure them with actual doors or hard, clear covering over any front openings. They also must cut their grass in their front and back yards or face penalties.

"We're not backing off the deadline," Councilman Craig Taffaro said. "Now enforcement begins."

Not that homes will be knocked down this week.

The process can be drawn out, with the parish required by law to give owners the opportunity to make repairs.

Nonetheless, parish officials said it is critical that the parish move quickly to condemn homes when the owners are not taking care of their properties. The federal government has said it will pay 100 percent of the demolition costs only through Dec. 31.

The parish's contractor, Unified Recovery Group, is currently demolishing the homes of residents who signed up for voluntary demolition. So far 1,700 homes have been demolished under the voluntary program.

"Although the demolition pace has been slower than everyone anticipated, we will quickly come upon a time when the voluntary demolitions will be completed," Taffaro said. "We want to have an overlap where forced demolitions are in place because they still have to go through a FEMA approval process. We are going to aggressively attempt to meet that Dec. 31 deadline."

The only homes exempted from the gutting order are the 800 or so owned by elderly or disabled residents or those in areas officially recommended to be part of hazard mitigation buyouts.

Acting Parish Chief Administrative Officer Dave Peralta said the parish will start with those properties on the blighted list that are listed as 100 percent damaged, as well as properties whose owners have not informed the parish government of their plans.

Also within a week, Peralta said parish employees would begin spraying chemicals to kill grass and weeds at the properties on the blighted list, as well as any properties where the grass in the front or back yards is taller than 12 inches, as local law allows. Homeowners will be charged about $300 to recover the cost of labor and chemicals needed to address a public safety hazard, he said.

Meanwhile, Alan Abadie, executive counsel to Parish President Henry "Junior" Rodriguez, said residents who are considering accepting the Louisiana Recovery Authority's Road Home grants to sell their property and move should consider signing up for voluntary demolitions. As the LRA's rules currently stand, Abadie said, residents would be forced to deduct the costs of demolition and clearing the land from any grant they receive if their homes are considered unsalvageable.

To sign up for the demolition program, homeowners can visit the Office of Community Development on the second floor of the government complex on Judge Perez Drive in Chalmette or download forms from the parish Web site, www.sbpg.net. The forms can be brought to the office or mailed to the St. Bernard Office of Community Development, 8201 W. Judge Perez Drive, Chalmette, LA 70043. On the envelope, owners should note "Office of Demolition" for demolitions, or "Hazard Removal" for house gutting.

For information about demolitions call Community Development at (504) 278-4310, and to report blighted property, call (504) 278-4303 or (504) 278-4304.