Christie empowers N.J. to tear down buildings damaged by Sandy
From The Political State blog on NorthJersey.com:
Governor Christie is giving the state authority to demolish buildings that are unsafe because of damage from Superstorm Sandy but still haven’t been torn down.
Municipalities are primarily responsible for demolishing destroyed property, but not all unsafe structures have been torn down yet — a delay that is “frustrating the State’s continuing rebuilding and recovery efforts,” the governor said.
So today, 16 months after Sandy hit, Christie issued an executive order giving the state Department of Community Affairs authority to tear down those buildings. A new “Unsafe Structure Demolition Program” will get $15 million in federal recovery money.
“Property owners and local officials in Sandy-impacted areas have made significant strides in removing unsafe and dilapidated homes and buildings left behind by the storm,” he said in a statement. “Despite municipalities’ best efforts to demolish these damaged structures, many structures have yet to be removed, posing safety and health hazards for communities and impeding recovery efforts in affected areas.”
Damaged buildings in the nine counties most seriously affected by Sandy — Atlantic, Bergen, Cape May, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, and Union — are eligible for state demolition. The executive order only applies to buildings that were so badly damaged in the storm they are now uninhabitable.
In his order, Christie argues that the state should be taking on demolition responsibilities from local governments because of they “present an ongoing emergency.” The buildings are “constituting fire hazards, jeopardizing health and community safety by creating physical dangers, and/or increasing the risk of the spread of vector-borne diseases,” the executive order says.