[StBernard] First batch of empty St. Bernard lots to be sold by end of year

[Westley Annis]

What about people who did not sell their lot to the
Road Home? How can neighbors contact them to see about
purchasing the property?
It'd be great if there was a list of available
properties in the parish.

AS

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> First batch of empty St. Bernard lots to be sold by

> end of year 

> 

> 10:27 PM CDT on Tuesday, October 21, 2008

> 

> Bigad Shaban / Eyewitness News 

> 

> 

> 

> St. Bernard Parish is gearing up for what it hopes

> will be a major

> transformation-turning empty lots into parks,

> gardens, backyards and even

> available space for residents to add onto their

> existing homes. 

> 

> It's all part of the community's Lot Next Door

> Program, which allows

> homeowners to buy up empty lots sold to the state

> through the Road Home

> Program.  About 5,000 lots are slated for the

> program, and so far 1,300

> residents have notified the parish of being

> interested in buying up the

> properties. 

> 

> "We could take the fence down and make this a

> beautiful yard," said Carol

> Mirici, a Chalmette Resident who lives in between

> two empty lots owned by

> the state. 

> 

> Right now Morici's boat is the only thing occupying

> the abandoned lot to the

> left of her home, but she says if she had her way,

> it would be her garden

> covering up the area, and not the crumbling slab. 

> 

> "We'd have more things planted, we'd have more kinds

> of vegetables." 

> 

> St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro says now

> that the Louisiana

> Recovery Authority has given its official okay to

> the program, the first

> batch of empty lots will likely be sold to

> homeowners before the end of the

> year. 

> 

> "In about 4 weeks, we could probably see some trial

> closings," said Taffaro.

> 

> 

> The amount of properties that will be made available

> then by the state is

> still uncertain, but Taffaro has told the LRA to

> first handover the 1,300

> properties that residents have shown interest in. 

> 

> Longtime real estate agent Michael O'Brien says

> already cheap property

> prices in the area, paired with a soon to be influx

> of lots, means a serious

> potential for relatively low prices. 

> 

> "Those lots will probably have to sell between five

> and eight thousand

> dollars."' 

> 

> But at the foundation of nearly all the parish's

> empty lots is the base of a

> potential hold up.  The slabs still need to be

> removed on thousands of the

> properties, even those where the homes have already

> been demolished. 

> 

> FEMA said it could only tear down potential health

> hazards, and the slabs

> didn't make the cut. 

> 

> "And so we ran into a policy issue and it wouldn't

> let us go forward," said

> Paul Rainwater, executive director of the LRA. 

> 

> But according to Rainwater, the state is now

> committed to footing the

> multi-million dollar bill. 

> 

> "So that at the end of the day or what a

> municipality will get is a piece of

> property with no slab on it," said Rainwater. 

> 

> Which is all Morici could hope for. 

> 

> "It would give us so much more room," she said. 

> 

> And Morici adds, the only thing better than getting

> to buy up the empty lot

> to her left, would be if she also gets the chance to

> also purchase the

> abandoned property to her right. 

> 

> "It would mean a lot, to have this lot!" 

> 

> Carol's neighbor, who lives just on the other side

> of one of the empty lots

> also wants the property, so according to the parish,

> they would each be

> allowed to  buy up half the land.  

> 

> Residents living next to an empty lot in St.

> Bernard, can expect to receive

> a letter in the mail next month explaining the

> program.  Those homeowners

> would then have 30 days to reply.