Wednesday, September 25, 2024 | St. Lawrence County, NY
BY JEFF CHUDZINSKINorth Country This WeekCANTON -- If you drive around the county you may notice a number of properties have been cleaned up in recent years after sitting vacant for years.
That's due in large part to St. Lawrence …
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BY JEFF CHUDZINSKINorth Country This WeekCANTON -- If you drive around the county you may notice a number of properties have been cleaned up in recent years after sitting vacant for years.
That's due in large part to St. Lawrence County's blighted property program.
St. Lawrence County Attorney Steve Button said the program has been a major success for the county, allowing for dozens of properties with unsafe structures to undergo remediation.
Once structures are removed, the property can then go back on the tax rolls through auction, Button said.
"The legislature and my office view this program as a top priority. This is a way to restore communities, to remove unsafe structures and to put properties back on the tax rolls," he said.
Funding for the program comes from the state, with hundreds of thousands of dollars spent every year to clean up blighted properties that have long been in violation of local, county and state codes.
Button said he is confident the program will continue on in the future as well.
"The county legislature will continue to support the program, as well the state, allowing us to clean up more properties in the future. We're very confident this program will continue to be a success," he said.
Currently, five properties are undergoing cleanup, including in the towns of Canton and Potsdam, the village of Massena and Pitcairn, Button said.
Village of Massena officials say they were notified last month that properties at 56 and 58 Sycamore Street would be cleaned up as part of the program.
Those properties were deemed to be unsafe structures and will be torn down by the end of the year.
Button also touched on another program that cleans up properties with possible environmental contamination, like old gas stations and dry cleaners for instance.
He said that program, which began in 2015, has crossed the century mark this year with the 100th property cleanup.
Button said funding for the program comes from the state Oil Spill Fund with cleanups conducted by the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
"We really need to give the Comptroller's Office a great deal of credit for their support of the program, as well as the DEC. Without their support we wouldn't be able to do this," Button said.
