Banks accused of promoting vacancy

Banks and lending institutions are to blame for most of the vacant buildings in town that are coming under scrutiny by town officials, the town's zoning officer said this week.

www.rutlandherald.com    

Published June 13, 2016 in the Rutland Herald Banks accused of promoting vacancy By SUSAN SMALLHEER SPRINGFIELD — Banks and lending institutions are to blame for most of the vacant buildings in town that are coming under scrutiny by town officials, the town’s zoning officer said this week. Bill Kearns told the town’s ordinance committee the original property owners were “long gone,” but that the banks had not foreclosed on the properties, because they did not want to be financially responsible for them. Kearns said most of the vacant buildings in town were either owned by regional banks or national lending institutions. And getting those out-of-state financial institutions to pay attention is a challenge, he said. “The banks won’t change title and the banks will tell you to ‘go fly a kite,’” he added. The ordinance committee this week made some adjustments to the proposed vacant building and nuisance ordinance the town hopes will serve as an effective weapon fighting vacant and dilapidated buildings. The committee, which met earlier this week, jettisoned a controversial provision that called for property owners to purchase liability insurance. And the committee changed language concerning cracks or small openings in basements, with some people pointing out that it could be applied to hundreds of basements all over Springfield. The issues of requiring liability insurance first came under criticism last week during the second formal hearing on the proposed new ordinance. But after hearing such insurance was too costly, the committee agreed to eliminate the requirement for small projects, but keep such a requirement in place for such large projects as Jones & Lamson Machine Tool Co., and Bryant Grinder Corp. Both large industrial buildings are owned by the Springfield Regional Development Corp., which has different plans for rehabilitating the properties, both of which are heavily contaminated with industrial waste and are considered brownfield sites. SRDC has already told the board it has liability insurance for its buildings. Smaller rehabilitation projects totalling less than $100,000 won’t need the liability insurance, said committee members and Select Board members George McNaughton and Walter Martone. Martone said he was concerned about children getting caught and hurt in a vacant building, and keeping the buildings safe from intruders was a goal of the ordinance. Town Attorney Stephen Ankuda, who is a member of the committee and its draftsman, said the basement criticism, banning “open cracks and breaks” would be too restrictive in a community like Springfield where much of the housing stock is more than 100 years old. “Let’s get rid of ‘animal and rodent proof,’” said Ankuda. “I’m not sure mine is,” admitted McNaughton. “‘Inaccessible’ is what we’re trying to do,” said Ankuda. Large buildings, such as J&L and Bryant’s, are largely exempt from the ordinance as long as they have a detailed renovation plan. “This is not about not mowing the lawn,” said Martone. The ordinance will now go back to the full board for a series of hearings before it will be adopted later this summer. http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20160613/NEWS02/160619839