The Buffalo Common Council voted to send an item about reuse of vacant Rite Aid locations to the Community Development Committee and several lawmakers called for a broader vacant-property initiative to address blight, public-safety risk and uncollected municipal costs.

The sponsor told colleagues the city map identified about 16 vacant Rite Aid sites across multiple council districts, and staff compiled addresses, district information, closure dates and owner mailing addresses for each building. "I know the the 2 large ones that I have in my district...these are large square footage properties that are now being vacant and abandoned," the sponsor said, urging the Department of Permits and Inspections to review the list.

Councilmember Rivera and others said vacant buildings extend far beyond former Rite Aid sites and highlighted costs to police and fire departments for patrolling and securing vacant structures. Rivera said the city should "pass that cost on to those people that own those buildings" and proposed a vacant-property initiative with progressive penalties for chronic noncompliance.

Councilmembers raised ownership and enforcement problems: many vacant properties are held in limited liability companies with mailing addresses that return undeliverable, hampering enforcement and collection. Councilmember O'Brett said staff struggled to find a real person to contact for several properties. Majority Leader Helton Pope and other members said staff should examine potential LLC registration rules and other mechanisms used in other cities to hold absentee owners accountable.

Action taken: the council moved to send item 54 (reuse of vacant Rite Aid) to the Community Development Committee; the motion was seconded by Councilmember Nowakowski and adopted.

Several councilmembers asked permits and inspections to appear before committee to review the compiled list and discuss enforcement options, adaptive reuse prospects and mechanisms to recover city costs related to vacant properties.