By Jason Klaiber

Staff Writer

At the board of trustees meeting on April 22, the Village of Fayetteville opened up a public hearing concerning vacant buildings in the area.

Proposed legislation focuses on vacant commercial buildings along with required registration, fees and duties of property owners with respect to maintenance.

“I’m supportive of it,” Marguerite Ross, a village resident, said during the hearing. “I think this gives a lot of good enforcement and legal power to get some of these properties addressed.”

Citing abandoned structures as hotbeds for vermin infestation as well as shelters for criminals and homeless people, the legislation pushes for owners to keep their properties from becoming dilapidated.

“Just sitting on it and letting it deteriorate and be an eyesore for multiple years is just unacceptable,” said Michael Jones, the village’s code enforcement officer. “We want to have some kind of registry or some kind of game plan.”

Jones said the proposed legislation applies pressure to owners and developers to get the buildings at hand occupied, sold, repaired or demolished.

He estimated that the village contains as many as 10 or more vacated buildings in disrepair such as the former Syracuse Plastics factory at 400 Clinton St or the premises once occupied by the engineering company O’Brien & Gere at 547 E. Genesee St.

“Right at the gateway of Fayetteville, you have four abandoned buildings,” Jones said. “They just start adding up.”

According to Mayor Mark Olson, the hearing will be held over until a later meeting due to fee scheduling issues.