Norfolk, Portsmouth: Blight law hinders redevelopment efforts

A law making it harder for local governments to condemn and buy blighted property has hampered efforts to revitalize neighborhoods in Portsmouth and Norfolk, city officials say.

"We are absolutely realizing the impact of the change in the law from last year, and it's just going to get worse," said Kathy Warren, development director of the Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority.

Neighborhoods continue to decline because it takes longer to buy properties, Warren said.

The authority is no longer designating properties to be acquired because of the change in the law. Now, city officials must wait for properties to come on the market or try and convince people to sell.

"We're not giving up our efforts, but it has slowed the train down somewhat," Norfolk City Councilman Barclay C. Winn said.

The city had planned to demolish some residences in Denby Park, near Wards Corner, last year. But the plan was delayed because of the law.

The legislation, which went into effect July 1, changed the definition of blight and procedures cities must follow to acquire properties for redevelopment.

Under the new law, a city must prove that a property is a public nuisance or unfit for human habitation. Before, a structure was considered blighted if it was dilapidated.

"These properties have heat, running water, plumbing," Warren said. "People could still live in them, but they're a blighting influence on the surrounding community."

Even though a building might be functional, some are in such poor condition that they are eyesores and could attract crime or deflate values of surrounding homes. They could also dissuade others from buying a home nearby.

Joe Waldo, a Norfolk attorney who represents property owners in eminent domain cases, said the change in the law was necessary to protect home-owners who happen to live in blighted neighborhoods but whose homes are in decent shape.

The new law means government officials will have to go property by property, instead of designating an entire block - and all the residences in it - as blighted.

"Essentially, they can take all the property that's blighted," Waldo said. "They just can't take the property that's OK."

Warren said Portsmouth pays owners fair market value and relocation benefits.

Portsmouth has been using community development grants from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and capital funding from the city to revitalize neighborhoods for decades, Warren said.

The city has completed redevelopment projects in neighborhoods including Brighton/Prentis Park, Mount Hermon, and most recently, Park View.

Warren said that in the past, Portsmouth was able to use the eminent domain law as a tool to force absentee owners to negotiate. She cited the Mid-City shopping center, where the city used eminent domain and negotiated with owners from New York to sell the property. A Wal-Mart has since been built on the site.

In 2006, Portsmouth started to focus on revitalization efforts in Cradock, spending about $300,000 a year so far, Warren said. The original neighborhood was built to provide housing for workers during World War I, b ut it has declined over the years because of absentee landlords and crime.

In Cradock, t he housing authority has targeted sections of Cushing Street between Afton Parkway and Bainbridge Avenue. "It just became very obvious where we needed to start in Cradock," Warren said.

Anthony Smith, who lives on Cushing Street, said he doesn't go down his street past Bainbridge Avenue.

"You can see the difference, just in the trash," he said. H e said he hopes new buildings don't price renters like him out of the neighborhood.

The city has already acquired two duplexes on Cushing Street through community grants and foreclosure.

Portsmouth is working on acquiring another duplex there and a seven-unit building.

"I think the city should come in here and should take all these apartments down," said Jean Baggayan, who has lived on Cushing Street for 27 years.

The city had designated most of those buildings before the change in legislation went into effect and has not designated any new properties since.

Karen Miller, who lives nearby, said she supports the idea of more home ownership. "I think the main problem is there's not a whole lot of money here," she said.

Staff writer Harry Minium contributed to this report.

Jen McCaffery, (757) 446-2627, jen.mccaffery@pilotonline.com