{"id":86794,"date":"2017-04-22T08:12:39","date_gmt":"2017-04-22T13:12:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=86794"},"modified":"2017-04-24T08:05:17","modified_gmt":"2017-04-24T13:05:17","slug":"first-house-demolished-in-county-under-federal-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2017\/04\/22\/first-house-demolished-in-county-under-federal-program\/","title":{"rendered":"1st house demolished under fed program"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n

The culmination of months of work came Friday as a house at\u00a0421 N. Market St.\u00a0was demolished as part of the Neighborhood Initiative Program (NIP). A second house across the street is slated for demolition on Monday.<\/p>\n

\"A
A worker hoses down a house at 421 N. Market St. to reduce the amount of dust created as the house is being demolished.<\/strong> Bob Barnes\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The\u00a0program, part of a $500,000 housing demolition award to Van Wert that is funded by the United States Department of Treasury and administered by the Ohio Housing Finance Agency, will stretch into 2019.<\/p>\n

The NIP\u00a0enables the newly-established Van Wert County Land Reutilization Corporation (land bank) to acquire, demolish, and improve the properties of what today are tax delinquent or abandoned residential homes. The program will allow for the removal of at least 20 houses in five approved target areas: the city of Van Wert and the villages of Convoy, Middle Point, Ohio City, and Willshire.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal of the program is to stabilize property values by removing and greening vacant, blighted properties,\u201d said Van Wert Area Economic Development Corporation\u00a0Executive Director Stacy Adam at the demolition site, while indicating well-kept houses in the neighborhood. \u201cI think it\u2019s going to do nothing but improve the value of those properties.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam noted the NIP was initially available only to large municipal areas, with communities the size of Van Wert not able to qualify.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust recently, communities the size of ours became eligible,\u201d she added. \u201cThat\u2019s when the (local) group got together and established the land bank and applied for the program, and were approved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam added\u00a0that\u00a0the North Market Street house was only the third property so far to be demolished in a smaller community now eligible for the NIP.<\/p>\n

\"Just
Just a small portion of the house remains as demolition proceeds on Friday.<\/strong> Bob Barnes\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The land bank works with local communities in the target areas to identify properties, beyond the standards for rehab or repair that would be appropriate for the NIP.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe houses that are slated for demolition are beyond saving,\u201d Adam said. \u201cUnfortunately, they\u2019ve sat empty for so long that it makes it very difficult to restore.\u201d<\/p>\n

After demolition, Van Wert County homeowners with a land bank-owned vacant lot adjacent to their home may have the opportunity to purchase that property as a side yard for a nominal cost. It is the land bank\u2019s intention to merge such parcels with adjacent owner parcels, so that the property owner\u2019s land value is enhanced and such vacant lots are restored to the tax rolls.<\/p>\n

Local residents who own a troubled house in one of the target areas, or are interested in learning more about reutilization of land bank lots, can contact Adam or JoAnne Simmerman, program manager, at the Van Wert Economic Development office at 419.238.2999 for more information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor The culmination of months of work came Friday as a house at\u00a0421 N. Market St.\u00a0was demolished as part of the Neighborhood Initiative Program (NIP). A second house across the street is slated for demolition on Monday. The\u00a0program, part of a $500,000 housing demolition award to Van Wert that is funded by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-23 16:54:18","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86794\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}