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After close to a year of working to identify the city’s abandoned properties, land owners will have one month to take action.

Director of Property Improvement Robert McKeon said a list of abandoned properties will be posted in local newspapers and notices will be sent via regular and certified mail to registered property owners.

Under the Abandoned Property Rehabilitation Act, properties must remain unoccupied for at least six months and meet at least one of the following four additional criteria: being in need of rehabilitation but no work advanced in at least six months; construction may have started but ceased before a property was suitable for occupancy; delinquent on at least one tax payment; or considered a nuisance due to crime, fire or drug activity.

In February McKeon identified a list of close to 50 abandoned properties but said that number has since dropped by 44 percent.

“Actually that’s a good thing,” McKeon said. “I guess when people found out that we were doing this program, over last 11 months properties have rehabilitated or in the process renovated, vacated or sold. Something is in the works with each one of those [22] properties.”

Once the notices are sent, property owners will have 30 days to appeal the city’s abandoned property designation, McKeon said. An appeal hearing date would be set and depending on those findings, a property could either remain on the list or be granted relief.

If no notice to appeal is received, the property is brought back before the City Council for a next step determination that could include a tax sale foreclosure, McKeon said.

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