Mayor Byron Brown has unveiled an initiative aimed at demolishing 5,000 structures over the next five years. The new “5 in 5” Demolition Plan is expected to cost an estimated $100 million with most of the money coming from the State. He is also bringing back the former Commissioner of Inspections and Community Revitalization in the Griffin administration to help oversee the project, James Comerford.
“The ‘5 in 5’ Demolition Plan will be an accelerated, comprehensive, citywide attack on the dangers and blight of vacant structures,” said Mayor Brown. “Buffalo’s high vacancy rate is a serious problem that must be treated aggressively and the new ‘5 in 5’ Plan will do just that.”
Buffalo’s housing vacancy rate was 15 percent as of the 2000 Census, with an estimated 10,000 vacant residential structures. Buffalo’s Comprehensive Plan sets a goal of annually demolishing 1,000 units, or approximately 500 "vacant, dilapidated, or un-repairable” residential structures. Achieving the five percent vacancy rate goal set in this plan would take over ten years to accomplish.
The "5 in 5" Demolition Plan's goal to demolish approximately 5,000 structures in five years would bring the vacancy rate closer to five percent in half the time targeted by the Comprehensive Plan. The effort is seen as a way to stabilize neighborhoods, create development and investment opportunities, save the City money over time, and ensure greater public safety.
According to the City, the program will prioritize demolitions in areas with redevelopment plans in place, as well as sites posing a threat to public safety. Careful consideration will be given to "deconstruction," a form of demolition, which enables the maximum recovery of reusable and recyclable materials. And, the City's demolition strategy will supplement, not supplant, efforts to rehabilitate properties when possible.
The estimated cost of this initiative, over five years, is $100 million, with an anticipated contribution of $60 million from New York State, $20 million from the City of Buffalo, $15 million from the federal government and $5 million from a City-community matching fund program (the City will match a goal of $2.5 million raised from community funding sources such as foundations).
To help oversee the implementation of this plan, as well as focus on all permit and inspection issues, Mayor Brown announced the appointment of James Comerford as Deputy Commissioner for Economic Development, Permit and Inspection Services.
Comerford left the public sector in 1994 and formed his own construction management company, which he owned and operated until earlier this year.