BY JEFF CHUDZINSKI
North Country This Week

CANTON — Building on the success of remediating commercial properties, St. Lawrence County aims to focus on residential cleanups.

Efforts over the last decade has also led to over 80 commercial properties being cleared or cleaned up through the commercial environmental remediation program.

The Finance Committee approved the creation of a similar program which will target residential properties at the Jan. 30 meeting.

The move comes after the county treasurer, county attorney and county tax foreclosure team made the recommendation to create a reserve to handle such properties in an effort to get them back on the county tax rolls through future auctions.

Officials say the plan would “strengthen the economy and reinvest in the community.”

“Our communities are filled with abandoned, old homes that act as a drain on our tax base and a scar upon the face of our villages. The County’s Blighted Property Program is designed to start tackling these residential properties in a first-of-its-kind program and rejuvenate our towns and villages with the same approach to be included in the City of Ogdensburg soon,” Chairman David Forsythe said.

The goal is to bring more properties onto the tax roll.

“We are no longer going to allow condemned residential structures to block our community advancement and impede development in our county. I am thankful for the help of our team and the support of the Board of Legislators in rolling this program out. Hopefully, it will be a model for others as they attempt to tackle the blight around the State of New York,” St. Lawrence County Treasurer Renee Cole said.

Legislators took the first steps to foreclose on five residential properties due to delinquent tax payments during the Jan. 30 meeting.

Those properties, located in the towns of Potsdam, Gouverneur, Clifton and Morristown are each condemned or in the process of being condemned “due to structural damage which has caused them to be dilapidated and potentially unsafe,” officials say.

“For the last eight years, the County has made it a priority to focus efforts on remediation of commercial environmentally contaminated properties. As we rapidly close in on our 100th property remediated on the commercial side, it is exciting to see the county expand its gaze to include dilapidated residential structures. Renee Cole, County Treasurer, and the St. Lawrence County Board of Legislators should be commended for their efforts to take on a difficult issue and meet the adversity posed by these properties head-on,” St. Lawrence County Attorney Steve Button said.

The residential remediation efforts will next be heard by the full board of legislators during the board’s Feb. 6 meeting.

Officials expect to author formal authorization to sign demolition contracts for the five properties during the meeting.

The County Foreclosure Team are recommending JEDA Environmental of Massena and AAC Contracting of Waddington to conduct the work.

Atlantic Testing of Canton will provide air monitoring at each site, if approved.

Site preparation for demolition is expected to begin later this month.