Commission reviews vacant-property list, warns maintenance burden strains city resources

The Johnstown Planning Commission spent substantial time on March 3 reviewing the city’s inventory of vacant properties and possible responses to mounting maintenance costs.

City staff told commissioners the spreadsheet lists more than 300 vacant properties that still have structures and roughly 2,699 vacant lots that no longer contain buildings. City Manager Art Martynuska said the condition of structures varies widely and noted demolition funding is occasionally available but insufficient to address the full scale of deterioration.

Commissioner Michael Grandinetti and staff highlighted enforcement limits: while City code allows staff to perform maintenance and place liens to recover costs, tracking and enforcing liens across thousands of parcels is resource-intensive. Martynuska said the City’s Public Works staff—about 20 to 24 employees—could be consumed by mowing responsibilities if maintenance were pursued across many parcels, leaving little capacity for other services.

Commissioner Laura Huchel described a vacant-structure registration fee (about $500) that owners must pay when a property is registered; that fee can be used to cover maintenance if an owner fails to maintain a property. Commissioners also discussed potential strategies including more aggressive use of liens, partnering with the Johnstown Redevelopment Authority, and technological or equipment solutions such as drones for vegetation control in hard-to-maintain areas. They noted limits on the land-bank approach because the City remains responsible for maintenance if properties are transferred to the land bank.

Commissioners asked staff to continue exploring enforcement and acquisition strategies and to consider ways of consolidating data and workflows as the City transitions large lists into interactive GIS tools.