NITRO, W.Va. — The City of Nitro has adopted a Memorandum of Understanding concerning the demolition of dilapidated buildings.
Nitro City Council passed a resolution and approved the MOU at its Tuesday night meeting. St. Albans and other cities have done the same.
The Kanawha County Commission received $500,000 from the West Virginia Housing Development Fund and matched it with an additional $500,000 to help cities tear down dilapidated buildings.
According to the MOU, cities will enter into agreements with individuals that want homes torn down. It will give residents another option to go to the county and request the money.
Nitro Mayor Dave Casebolt said there’s no set number of how many structures they need to tear down.
“We just demolish them as they become available basically,” he said. “We’ve been doing anywhere from 5-10 a year.”
It’s important to tear down these structures because they can be an eyesore in the community, Casebolt said.
“Any time you have a nice neighborhood and then right in the middle of it is a home falling down, it just brings down the value of the whole neighborhood, so it’ll be a big plus to get more of them out,” he said.
The city is currently working to remove two homes and build three new houses along Second Avenue.
“That’s another big benefit. You get new housing, new stock in. Obviously higher property taxes because of the new homes, so it benefits everyone,” Casebolt said.