While Kanawha County has funds to demolish more than 100 dilapidated structures, Planning Director Steve Neddo would much rather a homeowner fix or demolish a problem building themselves.
"It's in the county's interest and the neighborhood's interest to have good-looking homes that are [lived in]," Neddo said. "Rehabbed is always the better option."
The county commission Thursday closed on a no-interest $500,000 loan from the West Virginia Housing Development Fund that it will match with $500,000 in building permit fees to fund building demolitions.
In Kanawha County, the $1 million program likely will fund more than 100 demolitions, but Neddo said the county has immediate plans to demolish five of them, likely in the next week or two. The first one demolition is slated for Monday morning.
Those properties are: 3465 Simmons Creek Road in Malden, 110 Harper Road in the Cross Lanes area, 303 Dubois St. in the Union district, 63 Fairview Acres in Jefferson and 64 Cirrus Drive in the Elk district.
The county also has a list of about 100 properties that they have complaints against, but not all of them will ultimately be razed, Neddo said.
"Can I tell you that we're gonna tear down [every house on] that list? No, because somebody may call me and say, 'I'm gonna fix it or tear it down,' so that one comes off the list," Neddo said.
Neddo reluctantly gave the Gazette-Mail both lists Friday morning. Both are public documents, but he's afraid if people know what houses are on the lists, they will set them on fire. Neddo said oftentimes houses slated for demolition are subject to arson. People think it's OK to set them on fire because they're going to be torn down anyway, he said.
"Well, it's not OK to burn them," Neddo said. "You're putting firefighters in danger [and] the house next door."
Before a house is torn down, the owner is given three notices.
After the third and final notice, if the homeowner still has not responded, the case goes to an enforcement agency.
"The enforcement agency sends you complaint, then we give them time to respond, and if they don't respond the complaint goes before the commission, and they vote yes or no about demolition," Neddo said.
If the commission approves the demolition, the homeowner has another 70 days before the commission's demolition order matures, Neddo said.
"Generally, it's at that point that people actually take notice, when they get that official letter from the commission [saying] your house is going to in fact be torn down," Neddo said. "That's when finally, for some reason, homeowners go, 'Huh, I guess they're serious.'"
The entire process can take two years or more.
"The cases we're working on now are from 2014, starting into 2015," Neddo said. "So it's two years back."
Neddo said he tries to work with people who want to fix up their property so it isn't torn down.
Of the houses that the planning offices targets for demolition, about 10 percent will be either rehabilitated or demolished by the homeowner.
"So if I go after 100 homes, hopefully I take care of 110 - that's my hope," Neddo said.
Each demolition costs on average $8,800 for required title searches, asbestos testing and removal and razing. The county has a demolition contract through Rodney Loftis and Son for $4.99 per square foot.
The county tries to get that money back by putting a lien on the properties where it demolishes houses.
Most of the homes the county is targeting are in unincorporated areas, but the commission has also expressed an interest in helping smaller towns in the county demolish problem structures.
"Could we reasonably do a hundred houses this year?" Neddo said. "They want me to, so I'm gonna try."
Reach Lori Kersey at lori.kersey@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1240 or follow @LoriKerseyWV on Twitter.