Redevelopment authority urges faster codes enforcement to use $2.3 million for blight rehab

The Williamsport Redevelopment Authority told City Council on May 22 it has about $2.3 million to rehab blighted properties but cannot move quickly without faster, certified code enforcement.

The authority’s representative, Jen Matts, told council the RDA and land bank have assembled contractors, appraisers and legal counsel and “we have approximately $2.3 million in grant funds available to refurbish blighted properties,” but said the city must first certify properties as blighted before the authority can take negotiation or eminent‑domain steps to acquire them.

Why it matters: the RDA estimates it can rehabilitate dozens of houses and return them to the tax rolls, increasing assessed value and producing new tax revenue for the city, county and schools. But Matts and board members said delays in codes citations and in the blighted‑property certification process are the binding constraint on using ARPA seed funds before the grant deadline.

At the presentation, Matts described four projects the authority has already advanced: a burned row house it rehabilitated and placed on the market (2169 Mosser/Mauser Avenue), a Park Avenue lot where the RDA paid a city lien and plans to site a modular home, and a property at 615 Market Street that the authority now has possession of and plans to demolish because it is saturated with water and black mold. Matts said the authority typically budgets roughly $200,000 to bring a single property back to marketable condition and estimated the program could improve fair market value by as much as $10 million and generate roughly $407,900 in additional tax revenues shared among taxing bodies.

Matts repeatedly told council the authority’s work depends on a “consistent, timely, professional, certified and quality codes operation” that will issue citations, forward certified blighted properties to the blighted‑property committee and thereby give the RDA the legal leverage to acquire and rehabilitate properties. She noted ARPA funds must be expended by the end of 2026 and warned acquisitions and rehabs can take months: “acquiring a property, either through eminent domain or negotiating with the owner, takes time… it can take 6, 9 months in order to acquire a property, let alone the time it takes to refurbish it.”

Council members pressed for details and alternatives. Councilwoman Meeley and Councilman Mackey asked whether the RDA could pursue commercial properties in addition to residential parcels; Matts and board members said the blighted‑property process can include commercial/industrial properties but only after codes issues are certified and forwarded to the committee. Council members also asked about timelines in an ideal case: RDA board members said that with a streamlined codes process a property could be acquired in roughly 30–60 days and rehabilitated or replaced (modular home or demolition + rebuild) within about 6–9 months.

Members of council also discussed enforcement tools. Matts and others urged better coordination across codes, planning, the blighted‑property committee and council; council members proposed raising fines and streamlining approvals. City officials said personnel and software issues in codes (multiple systems that do not communicate) have hindered timely follow‑up on citations.

Public comment during the meeting reinforced the enforcement concern. Resident Robin Hannon, who said she and a partner own five properties near a repeatedly cited parcel on Hepburn Street, said she filed 13 online complaints in 13 months and that a May 6 complaint about trash and ponding water at 802 Hepburn Street was followed the next morning by condemnation notices posted on several of her properties. “It is targeting, it is harassment, and it is illegal,” Hannon said, adding she has contacted an attorney.

What changed or was directed: council members asked the administration and relevant departments to coordinate with the RDA and identify specific process changes the council can authorize or pursue during budget and ordinance work. No formal ordinance or code change passed at the meeting; the council requested follow‑up conversations and work between administration, codes staff, and the RDA.

Matts closed by saying the RDA will spend the funds if the city expedites certifications and enforcement: “It will be spent responsibly, and you will see the product of it.”

The RDA asked council to consider retaining qualified, certified enforcement professionals dedicated to blight certification and to consider legal and administrative changes to accelerate the pipeline from citation to acquisition and rehab.