Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - City officials were in Buffalo City Court on Thursday for a hearing with the attorney representing the owner of the St. Ann's campus in the city's East Side neighborhood over continued issues with the buildings along Emslie Street.
The city continues to aggressively pursue the owner - Buffalo Crescent Holdings Inc. - for letting the campus fall into disrepair, and threaten to fine them if progress isn't made towards tending to violations and securing the buildings on the campus.
"Ultimately, this is our legal team taking action and keeping the pressure on," said deputy mayor Thomas Baines.
"We would like to see continued efforts on the part of our law department to ensure that the city's valuable assets are not falling into disrepair. So this is a good result today, but we'll look for those efforts to continue to make sure for the community that we're securing those properties," added corporation counsel Rosa Pizzi.
The campus has been the subject of multiple fires since the start of the year, with one fire heavily damaging the former church school. Just in recent weeks, a pair of fires broke out in a four-day span near the rear of the church.
The fines the owner could face if the violations persist at St. Ann's, according to Pizzi, can accumulate quickly, with something in the $20,000 range being possible by the time the next court date for trial comes on Sept. 24.
The lawyer representing the St. Ann's owner said Thursday they have run out of funding, despite knowing the upkeep and renovations needed to avoid such fines being handed down from the City of Buffalo.
Baines agrees with Judge Phillip Dabney on Thursday when talking about certain groups or individuals purchasing properties of significant size like St. Ann's, but failing to take true considerations into what it would take to maintain such a property.
"As the judge mentioned today, what analysis did that organization do to make sure it was properly capitalized? Or, at the very least, you have insurance for if something were to happen, you have something to fall back on," Baines said. "These organizations have acquired these buildings with no insurance, and now the expectation is the city then swoops in and tries to save them, which is not something that we can do. And that's something that we we we have to work towards and work against so we're not left holding the bag."
He adds it's very alarming that owners like those at St. Ann's don't have insurance on their assets.
"If it were me - folks out there own their homes, you know as well as I know the way that you secure and have peace of mind for an asset such as this, or even your home, is that you have homeowners insurance or some level of insurance for these things that happen. Especially, most paramount of all, is fires," Baines said. "That's exactly what happened to this building here today, so absolutely, it is incredibly alarming."
What also frustrates Baines with a property such as St. Ann's is the fact the owner showed no plans as to what they intended to do with the building going forward.
"It is the work of the commissioner [of permit and inspection services Lou Petrucci] to keep the pressure on that group, which is why they came out yesterday to do the cleaning and the upkeep, because we had continued to call them and email them to no avail. So we haven't seen the plan," Baines stated. "All we've had in the past is promises that someone would visit the site, folks would help out to maintain it. But we've seen nothing. The only thing we've seen is just yesterday when they finally arrived to help board up and cut the grass at the site. So unfortunately, it feels that it was a little bit prompted by the court case today."
As the city continues to pursue all legal options with the St. Ann's property - abandonment, eminent domain, receivership, etc. - the objective is to make sure the site remains safe for the residents.
"We wouldn't have as many fires if there wasn't access to the building. How do you gain access to the building when you see boards down? Those are folks penetrating the building, setting fires. So my team and other teams, commissioners' teams have been up visiting the site regularly, boarding it up, making sure it's safe for the community," Baines said. "So ultimately, our objective is to make sure the court applies pressure to them so that they can compel them to do what they're supposed to do as owners, which is to make sure the grounds are maintained and make sure the site is boarded up and safe for the community."
The city is pushing the owners to tend to the campus that has suffered multiple fires since the start of the year
The city is pushing the owners to tend to the campus that has suffered multiple fires since the start of the year
