Vacant Brownsville church a danger to residents
Look no further than Brownsville to see the damage that an abandoned church can do to the community and adjacent properties.
In 1995, church trustees and parishioners walked away from the First Baptist Church, 128 Market St., Brownsville. Local and county officials took no action, i.e. fines for code violations or removing the tax-exempt status. Instead, it was allowed to sit and deteriorate while church leaders died off one by one.
I own the adjoining property, which has been sustaining damage since 2011 because of continued deterioration of a stone wall on the church parcels. I have three surveys, all of which prove the wall is part of the church property. There is another adjacent property, a parking lot, which has been damaged several times because of rocks falling from this wall.
In the past nine years, my repeated appeals to Brownsville Borough Council, the Redevelopment Authority of Fayette County and Fayette County Commissioners have fallen on deaf ears. Why? According to these entities, they can’t do anything to help because they don’t own the property. In other words, it’s the dead trustees’ responsibility. It’s also not owned by the Baptist Association because it was organized as an independent church.
Had officials followed the law and did what should have been done in 1995, there most likely would be an owner. That didn’t happen and now I’m the one suffering due to their repeated missteps and inaction.
When parishioners walked away, the code officer should have issued fines, but did not. That’s also when the tax exempt status should have been pulled, but it was not. That inaction meant it was never on the delinquent tax roll or eligible for public sale.
I moved to Texas in 1997 and was unaware that local and county officials had failed to take action against this derelict property. I returned to PA in fall 2010 and have been lobbying diligently ever since to no avail.
I have invested $200k plus sweat equity into my historic home, which has lost its value because of the damage I am incurring daily from this collapsing wall. At least 25 to 30 feet have fallen and the edge is now just inches from the corner of my home. In 2011, my insurance company directed me not to touch the wall. When my home falls, they told me they will sue every entity that failed to live up to its fiduciary responsibility to address this abandoned property. Inaction is as legally culpable as action.
Four attorneys, state and federal officials and a representative from the PA Department of Community & Economic Development also have tried in vain to get the borough and county to do something about the church property to save my home and remove a blighted property, which is a clear-cut public hazard. This vacant building is shifting and is going to one day fall onto Market Street. Right now, the building is a haven for the homeless and curiosity seekers.
At one point during my lengthy battle, the Redevelopment Authority had funds to address Brownsville’s blight. The list of properties included this church, but authority members refused to use those funds to repair and stabilize the wall despite my repeated begging. It would have been cheaper to repair that wall in 2011 when I initially asked than it will be now because of the severe deterioration and damage to my property.
Through my efforts, the church property is no longer tax-exempt as of November 2015. It takes time to work through the process, but it supposedly will be on the free and clear sale in July 2020. The building is structurally unstable so it’s not likely anyone will buy it. Should it sell, the buyer also gets that wall and the liability that goes with it.
If it doesn’t sell, then the abandoned church property will end up on the repository list. That doesn’t mean there is an owner. A majority vote by county commissioners is required before it officially is owned by this county. I hope to meet with them in the near future to plead my case before the new board. Without their consensus, this dangerous church property will remain ownerless ad infinitum – and I remain in limbo without any recourse until my home falls.
There are some people in town who believe this abandoned church, which is structurally unsound, should be preserved instead of demolished. The fact is it’s no longer a church; it’s an eyesore and a public hazard. Lives are being put at risk because of the condition of this property.
Preservation is more than boarding up buildings and praying that someone with millions of dollars will come along and fix your town’s problems. These same people aren’t willing to put their money on the line, but believe they have a right to interject themselves into an issue that doesn’t involve them. They are protective of a derelict property at the expense of my home, which is a contributing structure to the Northside Historic District. The church is not.
Blight can be prevented if officials do what they are empowered to do by taking action immediately when a property is vacated, regardless of who owns it, instead of waiting for years or until situations are out of control, as is the case in Brownsville with this abandoned church and other vacant properties in this borough.
Connie Gore
Brownsville