Efforts To Demolish Condemned Houses In Jamestown Moving Forward

Jamestown Director of Development Crystal Surdyk presents to City Council Housing Committee (August 14, 2023)

The effort to demolish condemned houses in the City of Jamestown is moving forward.

Director of Development Crystal Surdyk said of the currently 243 condemned properties there are 76 on the demolition list with eight ready to go in terms of lead abatement and other issues, “One of the questions was where are we with the contract with the (Chautauqua County) Land Bank and getting those properties going. We actually are moving forward. We approved a bid package for the first round of demolitions and the next round will be ready to go immediately following that first one.”

Surdyk said they’re bidding out multiple properties at a time in hopes of getting more contractors interested.

She said the demolition process could initially start quickly and then slow down, “It’s a whole process we have to go through. We have to have them first surveyed for asbestos and lead. If they come back positive for those contaminants, they have to be remediated. There has to be a period of air monitoring before they can come down. Once they’ve been remediated and the air monitoring has concluded, then they can be demolished.”

Surdyk said the abated properties will come down in the next month or so.

She said the Jamestown Urban Renewal Agency has approved the hiring of Jay Schultz as the Department of Development‘s new 19A Homeownership Program Contractor. The contract will pay Schultz $60,000 a year for a contract that runs through the end of 2026.

She said he has already been working with DOD staff on a strategy to take care of properties on the 19A list, “Properties that have to have their grass cut, cleaned up, exteriors buttoned up and secured; and then start to look at any immediate damage control, so if there’s a leaky roof or there’s broken windows to get those taken care of and that’s kind of the priority.”

Surdyk added Schultz has decades of construction experience and had most recently worked for Empire Development.