Wayne Allen | Daily Times
The house at 819 Court Street in Portsmouth was recently sold through the city’s Land Reutilization program.
FRANK LEWIS
PDT Staff Writer
The city of Portsmouth’s Land Reutilization program continues to move forward. Portsmouth City Health Commissioner Chris Smith said the city is moving to foreclosure on another approximately 60 abandoned and blighted properties.
“There is a set of about 60 that are headed for Sheriff’s sale,” Smith said. “We’re going to have a Sheriff’s sale on one of them here in the next couple of days, and the rest of them we are going to be hitting soon. They’re going to go through the foreclosure process. Some of them might get resolved, people might pay taxes on them, but whatever doesn’t get resolved and gets foreclosed on, which is the bulk of them, will go to Sheriff’s sale. And if they don’t sell at the Sheriff’s sale, they’ll come to the city and then the city will sell them off.”
Smith said the process has been slow at times, but he hopes to have the tear downs done by the end of the year.
According to Smith, funding for the project comes from several sources. Smith said $135,000 came from Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine’s office in a split with a grant awarded by the city and Scioto County; $150,000 is city CIP (Capitol Improvements) money awarded the program by Portsmouth City Council earlier in the year and $50,000 that had already been put in the CIP.
“What we’re going to try to do is package it all into $200,000 and get the most houses I can, done,” Smith said. “With my packaging I might be able to get double the amount done.”
The city recently sold 11 properties for a total of $15,500. They included:
1652 Logan Street (Vacant Lot) - $1,000
2107 Scioto Trail (Vacant Lot) - $2,000
1634 8th Street (Vacant Lot) - $1,000
5415 Harrison Avenue (House) - $500
2203 Mabert Road (Vacant Lot) - $1,500
3162 Walnut Street (Vacant Lot) - $2,000
2116 Charles Street (Vacant Lot) - $2,000
2214 7th Street (Vacant Lot) - $2,000
819 Court Street (House) - $500
1136 10th Street (Vacant Lot) - $2,000
1537 Robinson Avenue (Vacant Lot) - $3,000
Frank Lewis may be reached at 740-353-3101, ext. 232, or at flewis@heartlandpublications.com
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