Greensburg wants to raze vacant house listed for county tax bureau sale

A dilapidated house on Harrison Avenue in Greensburg might be razed with help from Westmoreland County’s demolition program.

The county already has an interest in the property at 447 Harrison, as it is among those listed by the county Tax Claim Bureau for inclusion in a Sept. 12 upset sale at the courthouse.

The annual sale focuses on properties with taxes that have been unpaid for more than two years. Bidders will have to pay any liens or tax burdens on those properties.

The minimum price for the Harrison Avenue property to cover obligations to the county is about $5,400.

City council last week ratified a demolition program application for the three-story house.

The house had open window panes and a door to an enclosed porch was hanging open Monday. The property was overgrown with vegetation.

In August 2021, the city found the property in violation of the International Property Maintenance Code.

Neighbor William Weir said the house has become an eyesore.

“I’m sure people around here would like to see it change,” he said. “It would be nice to have a habitable house there or nothing at all.”

Sean Byrne of Cranberry said he is working with city officials to have the house demolished. He said his sister bought the house in 2004 for her large family but died the following year. Their mother, a North Huntingdon resident, was drawing money from his sister’s pension to cover bills for the property, he said, but the family later moved from the home and his mother died last year.

As executor of his mother’s estate, Byrne said he learned three months ago that he was responsible for the property and nailed shut the exterior door.

“I’m trying to get some funds to demolish it,” he said of the house.

The project is part of Greensburg’s short-term blight mitigation strategy, according to Jeff Raykes, the city’s planning director. A more comprehensive blight plan is being developed in conjunction with the city’s overall Shape Greensburg comprehensive plan update, which council is expected to approve by the year’s end, he said.

The city is monitoring more than 30 blighted properties that need attention, with demolition reserved for the worst cases, Raykes said.

“We’re addressing the worst ones first,” he said. “It is a challenge to do a demolition, and it is always our last choice. We do what we can to have the current owner or a new owner come in and rehabilitate the property.”