My neighbors and I encourage the Bath Community Development Committee and the Bath City Council to expedite the review and revision of the vacant building ordinance. The ordinance was enacted in 2018, and this committee is reviewing its effectiveness.

We are anxiously awaiting action to eliminate the blight and threat to public safety, health and welfare they create.

Many published studies show that these properties diminish neighborhood property values, and the longer they stay abandoned, the worse it gets. Bangor is taking steps to shrink its 100 condemned properties, most of which are owned by out-of-state banks. As Bangor’s director of code enforcement, Jeff Wallace, stated in a recent interview with NewsCenter Maine WLBZ, many of these properties are in “bank limbo”: Taxes are paid, but dangers persist. According to Wallace, currently the only way for a municipality to take over a property is for lack of payment of back taxes. Bangor Police report that some of these abandoned properties are used for drug trafficking.

The Bath code enforcement officer recently briefed the Community Development Committee on his experience with the vacant building ordinance over these three years. While he cites 37 properties on his list, in various stages of abandonment, the ordinance has not been effective for long-term abandoned properties.

Communities must have legislative relief, banking and public policy reform to return these long-term abandoned properties to safe structures for neighborhoods, especially in the midst of a housing crisis.

Nancy Nellis
Bath

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