Published: March 31, 2008 06:39 pm      

COLUMN: NY banks on taking your land

Upstate New York’s glory days are a thing of the past which have resulted in many parts of the region looking like a ghost town. Abandoned factories, warehouses, and homes abound, while brownfields dominate the landscape. According to state officials, just in the city of Buffalo alone there are 13,000 vacant parcels, 4,000 idle structures, and 22,290 empty residential units.

Most residents would like to see this maddening trend of desertion reversed and something done to these lonely properties, many of which are depressing eyesores. Many have even asked for government intervention. Of this, the question needs to be asked: At what fiscal and philosophical costs would you like to see the blight eliminated? Would you be willing to pay higher taxes to remediate properties? Would you be willing to sacrifice your rights as a citizen and property owner?

Those questions carry significant weight when assessing the ramifications of a bill introduced by Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, D-Buffalo. Upfront, Bill A.8059 probably looks well-intentioned, an effort by officials to tend to ugly cityscapes. But, deeper analysis shows that the bill will require extensive investment and erosion of our rights, all things that we can give no more of.

Basically, this bill creates “land banks” which will be owned and managed by the state. To initiate the cause, county officials will be required to petition the New York’s Urban Development Corporation (ESDC) to create for that county an ESDC subsidiary that will target what they consider vacant, neglected and nuisance lands. The subsidiary will acquire and transform the properties so it can manage the use and possible sale of the reborn property.

These are not inexpensive tasks. Land that the ESDC outlet acquires legally (purchased, and at market value) can be expensive depending on the location ($1,000 to $30,000 or more per acre). Demolition and disposal of structures, especially vast industrial complexes, cannot be had on the cheap. Remediation of the earth itself will be the most expensive endeavor — especially along Western New York’s riverfront — with many brownfields and former factories sitting on unfathomable amounts of hazardous waste. Depending on how motivated the ESDC becomes, the bill for their efforts may very well reach the hundreds of millions.

The ESDC outlet will need substantial public funds and debt instruments to get the money necessary to handle these tasks. The authority will no doubt demand state and federal funds. And, most definitely, it will institute a very large “user fee” placed upon all landowners in that county, an action that really is the practice of taxation without representation because the courts have declared that state authorities are legally obligated and accountable to no one.

It’s this lack of accountability that will considerably lessen our collective rights. In order to make the land bank occur, the county must relinquish all its rights to the ESDC in regard to the properties earmarked for renewal. The agency, not our elected officials, will determine best use of the land, who it can be sold to, when, and why. On many occasions, the final use may not match the community’s zoning standards, master plans, and strategic directives developed and followed by its elected officials and most engaged citizens. And, there won’t be a thing they (and we) can do about it.

At an even greater scale, our singular rights will be dampened as well. The bill defines the properties that may be acquired as “vacant, abandoned, and tax-delinquent.” It goes on to cite properties that are “nuisances” and those which ”have been subject to the neglect of duties of property ownership including, but not limited to failure to pay taxes or utility bills, defaults on mortgages, and liens against property.” All of that language is very nebulous and damaging.

Who defines what a “nuisance” property is? To some, a long-standing machine shop beside a new residential development might be a nuisance. To others, a 150-year-old family estate amidst a bunch of new-builds might be considered a nuisance.

And, what of the supposed neglect? When would the state pull the trigger on taking their land? We are in a recession, one that only looks to get worse. Under such a circumstance, homeowners or businesses can easily get behind on their bills. So, anyone could fall into the “neglect” category.

Lastly, study the mortgage disconnect. Foreclosures are at all-time highs, so the federal and state governments have offered to help out. Yet, here they are licking their chops over foreclosures, so much so that the bill asks that the foreclosure process be expedited.

Contact your elected official and demand that Hoyt’s bill be defeated. Big government drove people away and created all the blight. There’s no way that more of it will eliminate the blight.

Bob Confer is a Gasport resident and vice president of Confer Plastics Inc. in North Tonawanda. E-mail him at bobconfer@juno.com.