Arnold moves to demolish 10 blighted buildings

The City of Arnold will have 10 of its blighted structures razed this summer.

City Redevelopment Director Rick Rayburg, who was feeling confident that those 10 could be demolished, had started moving to acquire the final four last month. However, the number of demolitions still hinged on whether there would be enough money available.

That was confirmed Tuesday when council, upon Rayburg’s recommendation, approved a demolition contract. It accepted the bid of $70,500 from A.P. Wise Excavating LLC, which will cover the destruction of all 10 buildings. The vote was 4-0, with Mayor Karen Peconi absent.

“We got, I believe, an excellent bid, an excellent price,” Rayburg said.

He said the last four properties have not yet been acquired from the Westmoreland County Real Estate Repository but the process has begun.

Those properties and the price the city will pay for each are: 209 and 2091/2 16th St. (one property), $550; 1527 Kenneth Ave., $500; 1509 and 15091/2 Kenneth Ave. (one property), $600; and 1341 Fourth Ave., $550.

Rayburg said he didn’t see a problem with the city buying the abandoned and deteriorated structures because nobody else made an effort to buy them.

Acquiring those properties will not hamper the demolitions, he said. They can begin while the work to obtain the final properties continues, Rayburg said although it is possible the final purchase by the city could take place by the time Wise begins the demolitions.

“Probably the earliest he can begin would be 30 days from when you approve the contract,” Rayburg told council. “We should get the other four within 40 days.”

Rayburg emphasized to council that one thing that still must be done before the demolitions can begin is for the city to get tax exemptions on the properties they’ve bought. Exemptions are needed from the New Kensington School District and Westmoreland County as well as from the city, itself.

He is still optimistic that the owners of other deteriorated structures that have been cited for code violations may piggyback on the city’s demolitions by contracting with Wise themselves. Four or five have expressed interest in doing that.

“We’re going to have a predemolition meeting and bring these people in and have the contractor go around and look at (the properties),” Rayburg said.

“The guy’s in town, his equipment’s in town and he’s giving excellent prices. I hope people take advantage of that,” he added.