By MARK TODD - mtodd@starbeacon.com
Star Beacon
CONNEAUT —
City officials were encouraged to learn one of the town’s ugliest, blighted properties has a date soon with the wrecking ball.
The infamous Harrington Block on State Street, deemed so unsafe a chain link fence keeps pedestrians a safe distance from its crumbling facade, could be flattened sometime this fall. Legal issues regarding the building, and an adjoining structure to the west, need to be finalized before work begins, officials said last week.
The building is the first of several structures in Conneaut that could be razed with money the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. Local leaders want the building gone because of the bad impression it makes to first time visitors.
Once a rooming house for railroad workers, the three-story brick building near Chestnut Street is highly visible to motorists on busy Route 20. Last week, Ashtabula County commissioners awarded a $131,000 contract to a Campbell company to demolish the eyesore.
The action is an encouraging first step to deal with some of Conneaut’s condemned and uninhabitable houses and structures, said Luciana Ratermann, city planning/zoning manager. “We’re hoping we move right along,” she said.
City Council has already targeted a handful of properties for NSP demolition, including 450 Liberty St.; 177 Wrights Ave.; 284 Cleveland Court; 252 E. Main Road; and 732 Main St. At Monday’s council meeting, several others were slated to join the list: 255 Clay St.; 267 High St.; 770 Buffalo St.; 672 Buffalo St.; 350 Woodworth Road; 628 Mill St.; 510 Wrights Ave.; 533 Blair St.; and 397 Furnace Road.
In all, 22 Conneaut-area properties have been penciled in for abatement action. Officials caution, however, that research is still under way on some of the properties and legal glitches may ultimately prevent some demolition.
“We’re working with (Law Director David Schroeder),” Ratermann said.
The demolition program dovetails nicely with residents’ insistence that the city clean up its neighborhoods. The dog-eared appearance of the town was listed as a top concern at a recent community meeting.
