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Franklin Township buildings on demolition list
Two dilapidated homes Franklin Township submitted for demolition last year could be torn down within the next two months, said Hannah Greer-Brown, public affairs director for Franklin County. The county is using $320,000 in federal funds to demolish 17 blighted structures in Mifflin, Clinton, Franklin, Hamilton and Madison townships. The Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission is overseeing the project. County officials said the goal is to prevent the continued depreciation of home property values. “Abandoned properties drag entire neighborhoods down. We want our children to be safe and families secure, and property values to be protected,” said Franklin County Commissioner Paula Brooks. According to Franklin County Commissioner John O’Grady, abandoned houses not only create health and safety hazards, but destabilize the sense of community among residents. “These demolitions are just a start of stabilizing these township neighborhoods, restoring community pride and convincing others to come in and reinvest,” O’Grady said. Franklin Township submitted the gutted remains of a property on Dover Road and an abandoned home on Marsdale Avenue, which is overrun with plant and wildlife, for demolition last fall. An environmental review of the Marsdale Avenue home found no asbestos, said Greer-Brown. The property on Dover Road was found with non-friable asbestos tiles on site. Bids for asbestos remediation and demolition begin arriving Aug. 31. The countywide initiative to demolish structural eyesores is ongoing. The Ohio Attorney General’s Office recently awarded $8.2 million to the county for the abatement of nuisance properties, according to a press release.
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