Westmoreland blight remediation seminar set for April

Westmoreland officials believe there are more than 1,200 dilapidated buildings scattered throughout the county’s 65 municipalities and next month will kick start an effort to remove that blight.

The county’s Redevelopment Authority will conduct a daylong “boot camp” April 22 at Westmoreland County Community College for local leaders to address the causes and potential solutions to remove blight.

“The costs are huge to not find solutions to this problem,” said Brian Lawrence, executive director of the Westmoreland County Redevelopment Authority. “As blight grows, it spreads in our communities like a plant disease.”

Officials anticipate as many as 100 elected officials and municipal leaders, including government staff, code enforcement officers, school district administrators, real estate agents and others to attend what they said is the first of what is expected to be an annual event.

Presenters are expected to include keynote speaker Brian Larkin, executive director of the National Land Bank Network, and Kim Graziani of the Center for Community Progress. Other speakers scheduled to appear include Winnie Branton, president and founder of Branton Strategies and author of “The Pennsylvania Land Bank Resource Guide,” and Christy Bean Rowing, executive director of City of Washington Citywide Development Corp.

Registration details are available on the redevelopment authority’s page on the county’s website.

Westmoreland County, through its redevelopment authority and Land Bank, has made blight a primary issue for this year.

The agency, through state grants and its demolition program, has about $500,000 to spend to remove blighted structures throughout the county. The agency is funded through $15 surcharges assessed to deed and mortgage filings.

Lawrence said his agency conducted inventories in three communities, Greensburg, Latrobe and Monessen, where as many as 400 structures have been identified as blighted.

A countywide assessment of blight is still in the planning stages, he said.

Meanwhile, the county commissioners have suggested a portion of the $105 million in federal American Rescue Program funds received as part of last year’s coronavirus relief effort could be used to eliminate blight.

The commissioners have yet to release a proposed plan for the funds.