Efforts of leaders restore eyesores in the Valley

Aug. 26--COAL TWP. -- Veronica Gruneberg was in shock when she saw the inside of her new home.

Especially knowing what the house used to look like.

Gruneberg, 62, former owner of Knockers Billiards & Games in Shamokin and other businesses, bought the South First Street home four years ago after the Housing Authority of Northumberland County restored the former row home.

Gruneberg, who lives with her fiance, said her husband had just passed away. She had been living in Elysburg.

She moved to the Coal Township home to be closer to the billiards business.

"I knew it was part of a row home that caught on fire," she said Tuesday at her kitchen table. "I was shocked when I was brought into it. Everything was brand new."

She bought the property at a judicial tax sale, meaning she didn't have to pay liens. She also acquired two adjacent lots where two other row homes once sat, also through tax sales. Those lots are her side yard now.

Those properties are among many the housing authority has been restoring to fight blight in the county. Northumberland County has been cited several times by the state as a model in the ongoing fight. Earlier this summer, the authority received a $750,000 grant and is in the process of receiving another for $200,000, said Ed Christiano, the authority's executive director.

The efforts are among those of officials throughout the Valley who are trying to cut out eyesores to make communities more attractive to residents, newcomers and businesses.

The $750,000 grant through the state's Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) is the largest state grant that the authority's Blight Task Force has received since its inception in 2012.

The grant is expected to renovate up to 60 properties.

The authority also plans a code enforcement training Sept. 15 in Sunbury as part of its fight against blight, Christiano said.

The training is aimed at teaching municipal officials how to deal with blight problems and make property owners more responsible.

"We came up with a strategy to stop the bleeding," Christiano said. "We're a model for the state. They like our program."

In a visit to the Valley in June, Rick Vilello, of the state Department of Community and Economic Development, complimented Northumberland County for its efforts. He said having a plan and sticking to it are critical to maintaining properties.

"We have to think about not just next year," Vilello said, "but what are we going to look like in 2035, 2050? What are the right sizes for our communities?"

In Atlas in Mount Carmel Township, the authority tore down 10 buildings, some of them destroyed by fire, and created Phoenix Court, a senior housing project.

The Union County Housing Authority is helping to prevent blight through a couple of programs, said Bruce Quigley, the authority's executive director.

The housing voucher, or Section 8, program pays part of qualifying tenants' rent in decent housing. The owner-occupied rehabilitation program offers assistance to qualifying homeowners to rehabilitate their properties.

"The authority has helped owners renovate over 1,000 units over the years," Quigley said. "It's probably about 30 years. It has been shown that programs like this help to reduce blight."

Chad Smith, director of the Central Keystone Council of Governments (CK-COG), said that agency looks at how to prevent blight.

"We like to think here at the COG that our Property Maintenance Department was created for that exact question," Smith said.

CK-COG provides enforcement of Uniform Construction Code building permitting and zoning and code enforcement in all or parts of Union, Snyder, Northumberland, Lycoming and Centre counties.

"If we look at our membership of 47 municipalities and those with/without property maintenance, there is definitely a higher quality aspect to neighborhoods and housing stock in those with property maintenance than those without," Smith said. "However, that may not be fair, because those without usually tend to be large townships that have such a diverse, spread out population that it would be very difficult to enforce the same rules and regulations as a dense, compact borough."

He said the agency recently revised the International Property Maintenance Code to better serve municipalities and to expand upon various chapters such as the fire safety chapter and added a chapter on rental housing and permitting.

In Montour County, Mahoning and Cooper townships are combining planning, zoning and code enforcement services to fight blight. The intergovernmental agreement will help Cooper. Mahoning has an established zoning office that can provide services to Cooper.

Danville borough also has been addressing some problem properties and recently was restoring a couple of properties on Mill Street, its main thoroughfare.

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