The
dilapidated structure seen in this April 24, 2013 photo was among the first to
be demolished under the Residential Demolition Assistance Program of the
Community Foundation for a Better Hartsville and the City of Hartsville.
The
same lot has been completely cleared of its structure following the house’s
demolition, as seen in this May 7, 2013 photo.
Hartsville’s Residential Demolition Assistance Program, the effort to eliminate blighted and hazardous residential properties in the city, began the week of April 29 with the removal of three vacant and blighted houses.
The program, a partnership between the Community Foundation for a Better Hartsville and the City of Hartsville, provides funds to help property owners clear away decayed house structures in situations where the demolition cost would be otherwise unaffordable for the owner. After a property is identified as failing to meet code and the owner agrees to participate with a $500 investment, the program subsidizes the remaining cost of removing the structure. At the same time that three structures were demolished through the Residential Demolition Assistance Program, the City of Hartsville demolished two additional structures which were in violation of building codes. The next three removals under the assistance program are planned for the coming weeks.
“This is a great example of the public-private partnership that the Community Foundation for a Better Hartsville represents,” said Curtis Lee, who chairs the Community Foundation. “The Foundation has been able to use public money to demolish three community eyesores in a timely and cost-effective manner. Demolition is ordered via an agreement with the homeowner, rather than following the more adversarial legal channels that the City has had to use in the past. It is a far friendlier way to rid the community of dangerous and unsightly structures.”
“City Council provided the Community Foundation with the funding for this program so that we could expand on Hartsville’s quality of life,” Mayor Mel Pennington said. “We are now seeing those funds put to excellent use. This program brings interested property owners on board to help clear our neighborhoods of blighted structures which invite crime, fire and other hazards. It opens the door for new development, and eventually the jobs that come with that investment, in neighborhoods where these things weren’t possible before, and it makes life better for the nearby residents who maintain their properties.”
For more information on the Residential Demolition Assistance Program, call Adam Mathews, Special Projects Director, at (843) 639-3607.
