Since the inception of the City of Hartford’s Livable and Sustainable Neighborhoods Initiative, 386 properties have entered the Anti-Blight Ordinance with 96 of those now considered abated. By City definition, a property is abated if the blight violations have been remediated. A missing window, for example, would not have to be replaced to be considered abated; it need only be secured.
In recent months, several of those properties with blight violations have been abated via demolition. One of these was 94-96 Homestead, which had been severely damaged by a fire in June 2013. According to the Assessor’s site, Union Baptist Church owned 9 Mahl Avenue, another recent demolition. Structures at 397 Sigourney and 109 Enfield have been removed. The long-vacant six-unit apartment building at 280 Enfield Street was demolished; its potential new use will be as a community garden until the parcel is redeveloped.
Besides those properties abated by demolition, there were a few highlighted in the presentation for extensive renovations. The property at 33 Ward was named as one experiencing an interior and exterior rehab; 62 Earle Street was another. The “Brother Bones” building at 161 Franklin Avenue continues to make changes, with Hartford’s Pizza having opened in a rehabbed space.
As of mid-May, blighted private properties cleaned by the City, such as those with trash and overgrown vegetation, have amounted to $194,002 certified to the tax rolls. Of that, $75,450 (39%) has been collected. There have been 251 private property “nuisance abatements” by the LSNI crew from August 2012 to the present.
Last week’s LSNI meeting for stakeholders covered more than one period’s changes because a previous meeting had been canceled. The next one is scheduled for September 12, 2014 at the Hartford Public Library.
