County takes over Camden demolition project

Camden's plan to rid its streets of close to 600 vacant and dilapidated buildings, which has stalled in recent months due to problems with the contracts that were awarded, moved out of the hands of city officials Thursday as the Camden County Improvement Authority took control.

The authority has been assisting Camden from the beginning but will now have a lead role via a shared-services agreement.

Since announcing the project last year with much fanfare, city officials have struggled to get it off the ground. The first 62-building phase was put out to bid a second time after attracting no bidders the first time. Last month, the contractor who had signed on for the bulk of the work backed out, citing concerns over asbestos removal as one reason.

The city's decision to award separate contracts for the disconnection of utilities, rather than including the work as part of each demolition job, led to a cumbersome process, city spokesman Vincent Basara acknowledged.

James Blanda, executive director of the CCIA, said Camden officials asked the authority to take on more oversight.

"Demolition projects are not the easiest," Blanda said. "There can be many unexpected elements to it, and if this was a smaller project, I'm sure they would have been able to handle it themselves."

Over the last decade, Camden officials have grown accustomed to ceding control over the day-to-day operations. In 2002, Camden was subject to what was believed to be the biggest municipal takeover in U.S. history, eliminating all authority from the mayor and City Council. Though the takeover ended in 2010, Camden remains impoverished, and its annual budget is heavily dependent on state aid. In 2013, the local police department was disbanded in favor of a county force. Later that year, Gov. Christie announced a state takeover of Camden's schools.

Mayor Dana L. Redd has vowed to reduce the city's pervasive blight by rehabbing or demolishing buildings that are empty and in disrepair, often abandoned by owners who walked away or stopped paying taxes. A survey last year by the nonprofit group CamConnect and the Camden Community Development Association found that close to 15 percent of the nine-square-mile city's structures were vacant, and about 37 percent of city land could be considered empty if 8,000 vacant lots are included.

In October the city began the demolitions, believed to be the largest such project in the state. The 62-building phase is funded by a federal grant. The second phase, the $8 million destruction of 534 remaining structures, will be financed by a bond to be paid off with a tax on city parking lots. Officials said last year that they hoped to have the demolitions finished within 18 months.

See original here:
County takes over Camden demolition project