Pottsville officials asked Schuylkill County Court on Friday to allow them to take possession of a dilapidated and dangerous double home on West Market Street.
In a five-page petition, the city asked the court to appoint it conservator of 817-819 W. Market St., which is owned by JAW Properties LLC, Trenton, N.J., under the state Abandoned and Blighted Property Conservatorship Act in order to protect the public.
"The property is in a state of serious deterioration due to the infiltration of roof water and interior is littered with evidence ... of vagrants entering and staying in the property," the petition reads in part.
The city asked the court to appoint it as the property's conservator and set a hearing on a plan for remedying what it terms "a neglected and unsafe building."
Pottsville joins several other county municipalities, including Butler, Cass and Foster townships, that are using the act, which became effective in February 2009, in order to try to eliminate unsafe properties. The most notable example is the seizure, and subsequent sale and renovation, of the old James Neale mansion in Buck Run, Foster Township.
City officials alleged that the West Market Street property is unfit for human habitation and threatens public health and safety in several ways.
"Pottsville is threatened with immediate and irreparable harm because (JAW Properties) continues to allow Premises to deteriorate causing a concern as a dilapidated and unkempt building as well as a potential health hazard," according to the petition.
According to the petition, those threatening conditions include:
- Rubbish and building materials scattered around the property
- Damage, decay and dilapidation to the structure
- Severe signs of neglect to all exterior surfaces
- A lack of safe entry and exit to the building
- A lack of routine maintenance and repair
Furthermore, JAW Properties has not performed any rehabilitation to the property in the last year, and the property contains vermin and uncut vegetation, the petition reads in part.
As a result, the building is unfit for human habitation, a fire hazard, an attractive nuisance to children and a negative influence on nearby property values, and JAW Properties has done nothing to remedy any of the problems, according to the petition.
The city estimated that any attempt to rehabilitate the building would cost more than $100,000.
