Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - To Mayor Sean Ryan, when it comes to a widespread demolition of Buffalo homes, enough is enough.
That's why Ryan issued his second Executive Order on Thursday to put a 60-day moratorium on any demolition of a Buffalo house. The only exception would be if a house is beyond repair because of a fire.
Pausing Buffalo's residential demolitions was one of the key talking point of Ryan's mayoral run.
"Demolition should only be the last resort, not the first," Ryan said.
The 60-day pause should give Ryan's staff enough time to craft a new policy that focuses more on renovating, not razing, what some consider, derelict homes.
In the past few years, Buffalo has demolished more than 300 homes, something that cost the cash-strapped city more than $10 million.
Buffalo only built 100 replacement homes.
"That's the wrong side of the ratio," Ryan said. "For that same $10 million, I could have 600 new houses built."
Demolishing homes not only hurts neighborhoods, it prevents people from buying the properties, renovating the structure and bringing it back to life.
"Otherwise, we are looking at a city with a lot of 'broken teeth' in its neighborhoods," Ryan said.
Ryan said under the new demolition guidelines, the city may use such legal tools as receivership or court-backed abandonment as means to gain control of the so-called derelict homes.
Eminent domain procedures may also be used, Ryan said.
New guidelines may be put into place later this year.
"The idea is to get in front of this and prevent demolition by neglect," Ryan said.