By Ashley McCarty-
The Adams County Land Bank has begun the demolition of two blighted buildings in Manchester.
The demolition began on June 30 and was contracted through Bonar Construction and Excavating in Georgetown.
The buildings, now but the vestiges of a business and apartments, were damaged by fire in December 2017. In January of 2018, the Adams County Land Bank started working with Manchester officials to clean up the properties and put a financial package together. Although different funding avenues were considered, ultimately the Land Bank fronted the cost of the project at $14,800.
The Land Bank, a quasi-governmental entity or nonprofit corporation, is focused on the conversion of vacant, abandoned, and tax delinquent properties into productive use.
“We have had our sights set on Manchester and we are try to help clean up the environmental issues, because we have had developers view the village and want to be a part of the revitalization but they cannot invest until we get the environmental issues cleaned up and some code enforcement started. We realize that people do not want to hear that, because we clean up the stuff that people don’t see. Most folks want to see this pretty little box with a pretty little bow that is aesthetically pleasing. Well in order to get this box, we have to clean up everything beneath the ground to get that box to set on there, than we have to get it wrapped, and get a bow on it. Frankly it just takes time to do it right,” said Economic and Community Development Director Holly Johnson.
The two pieces of property, owned by Wayne Blythe and Randall Nesbit, consist of one 12 x 24 building, one 46 x 70 building and one 17 by 60 building.
“So the Land Bank is going to raze the buildings. Neither building had insurance on them, so this is where it became a hurdle for the property owners, village and the county. Neither the property owners nor the village or county had the financial resources to take the structures down. So this is how the land bank got involved. This project from inception has had the full Land Bank Board support. Our role is to bid out the job, environmental testing, oversee demo and remediation of the site,” said Johnson.
After demolition, the Nesbit property will be donated to the village of Manchester.
“So that could more than likely be green space, could be picnic areas — it could benefit the businesses’ there, through the 8-Ball Restaurant. They could have a courtyard setting out there, they could do lots of different things that are there. That’s going to be up to the village of Manchester on what they do with it on that,” said Johnson. Blythe’s property will be returned.
According to Manchester Mayor Teresa Blythe, it is currently undetermined what will become of the former Nesbit property. Right now, the focus is on clean-up.
“Right now our focus is getting things cleaned up. We’ve got flood plain issues, we are trying to brainstorm what we can do about that. I think our focus right now is our riverfront; we’ve got to develop our riverfront, that’s really what we have. Let’s get things cleaned up, let’s promote we’ve got the river. So we’re still in the early stages of brainstorming. What can we do, what needs to be done to bring people in to our town that they could bring a business in. We’ve got a lot of stuff to be done before people will want to come in,” said Blythe.
They’re also focusing on getting their ordinances together, and organized, so they can start enforcing them, she said.
“The economic development group has been working on making sure our ordinances are in place. We are sending out a letter, just kind of a heads up to property owners that we know we have some issues. It’s going to property owners, not necessarily tenants. It’s also inviting them to meetings, ‘Hey, what can we do to help you get your properties up to code to follow the ordinances?’ The junk vehicles, the high weeds, over abundance of junk in the yards, that kind of stuff,” said Blythe.
The letter is to demonstrate the seriousness in which the village is taking the matter.
“We want to do something, we’ve got to get pride back in our town. So that’s kind of our hope. It’s a long process, because nothing government happens overnight. And we’re trying to figure out what our process is, trying to make sure our steps are correct, and that kind of stuff. So we’ve got a long way to go, but we’re hoping we get property owners and community involved,” said Blythe.
The blighted buildings currently being demolished and cleared is huge for Manchester, she said.
“The Land Bank has been very instrumental in helping us get down some of the blighted properties, some of the properties that have needed to come down,” said Blythe.
Ashley McCarty can be reached at (937) 544-2391, on Facebook, or at amccarty@peoplesdefender.com.
