Greater Mohawk Valley Land Bank

Committee Vision:

To serve as the Worthy Community Partner with the Greater Mohawk Valley Land Bank for the purposes of identifying Village properties that are abandoned and/or in poor conditions, and working to restore or raze those properties in order to return them to the tax rolls and end property blight.

156 South Main Street Property

As the Land Bank’s Worthy Community Partner, Dolgeville Forward began working to address the property at 156 South Main Street, known as “The Blue Tarp House” because of the tarp covering the holes in the roof. The difficulty of addressing this property was that no one … no individual, no bank, no mortgage company … claimed legal ownership of the property. Slowly, the property worked its way through the legal process and, finally, in 2020, was declared legally abandoned with no owner. The next step in the process is to have the Land Bank acquire and raze the property. We are hopeful this will occur in 2021. Once the property is razed, it can be sold and returned to the tax rolls.

During the past several years, Dolgeville Forward has been responsible for keeping the area around the house free from garbage or debris and ensuring that the lawn was regularly mowed.

14 Spencer Street Property

Dolgeville Forward and the Land Bank also targeted the abandoned home at 14 Spencer Street. This property’s back basement wall had collapsed, making it a danger to the community. It also became the home to a large feral cat population, which unfortunately was the site of a rabies outbreak. After many attempts to obtain the property, which was continually being sold to various mortgage and property management companies, we were unsuccessful in obtaining the property. However, the last mortgage/ property management company realized the liability that the poor conditions created and razed the property. The legal status of the empty lot is unknown at this time.