Chelsea neighborhood group urges Atlantic City to use abandoned‑property tools to address blight

A community development group representing Atlantic City’s Chelsea neighborhood urged the City Council to step up enforcement against owners of vacant and blighted properties, saying taxpayers currently shoulder public‑service and clean‑up costs for those sites.

Elizabeth Taranick, speaking for a local community development corporation, told council members the Chelsea area has about 103 vacant lots and buildings and that many owners do not live in Atlantic City. She said some owners hold multiple properties and that the condition of those parcels generates requests for police, public works and code enforcement services.

Taranick recommended the city use its existing tools, including the Abandoned Properties Act, a vacant property fee and tax foreclosure, to take control of chronically neglected properties and redevelop them. She described the abandoned properties tool as allowing the city to take control, fix and redevelop properties, and — if improvement costs exceed property value — place liens on other properties owned by the same owner.

She also said a vacant property fee exists on the books (described in her presentation as $500) but noted litigation questions and said the city was not enforcing it fully. Taranick urged the council to enforce available ordinances and offered her organization as a resource; she also voiced support for a motel ordinance that appeared on the council agenda that night.

Council members and staff asked clarifying questions. One resident raised concern about whether a property that is merely vacant but maintained could be declared abandoned; Taranick and city staff clarified that the city’s abandoned‑property criteria require vacancy for six months plus at least one of several nuisance criteria (such as repeated code calls, open windows, continued illegal dumping, or structures that attract trespass or fires). She said the city follows a strict checklist before adding a property to the abandoned list.

Taranick said the city tax assessor’s valuations are used in her group’s list and asked the city to pursue foreclosure and other enforcement when a property is delinquent on taxes. She suggested improved enforcement would yield safer streets, stronger neighborhoods and more housing.

The council heard that other neighborhood organizations are sharing data and in some cases purchasing or rehabbing properties; Taranick said community development corporations are coordinating but vary in capacity and tactics by neighborhood.

No formal council action was taken at the presentation; Taranick asked for continued enforcement and collaboration to move neglected properties toward rehabilitation and reuse.