Councilwoman Regina Brackman, D-Ward 3, spoke during a recent Housing Committee meeting about a home at Lafayette and 10th streets that has been a continued problem for neighborhood residents.

“That thing, the doors are wide open,” Brackman said. “I’m sure people are living there, I would imagine. The windows are open. … I drove by it the other day and everything, windows, doors (were open).”

The issue of people getting into abandoned homes or properties that have been ordered not to be occupied by city Development Department staff has been an ongoing issue for years. A fire on Fulton Street in May resulted from one such situation and ended up with arson charges being placed against a homeless man. County District Attorney Jason Schmidt announced earlier this month that Eric Courtier, 34, was indicted by a Chautauqua County Grand Jury on charges of first-degree arson, a class A-1 violent felony, and second-degree arson, a class B violent felony, after allegedly starting a fire that injured another homeless person sleeping upstairs at 234 Fulton St., a condemned house that was under the authority of the Jamestown Department of Development.

Crystal Surdyk, city development director, said the property on Lafayette Street is also under the Development Department’s control.

A home on Lafayette Street is pictured. Councilwoman Regina Brackman, D-Ward 3, spoke about the property during last week’s Housing Committee meeting. The door remained open late last week despite repeated efforts to secure the property.

“We have had it boarded and boarded,” Surdyk said. “I’ll have them go look at it again (Tuesday) and see if they can get it secured again. But every time we secure it, it gets reopened. We have found there is a group that has a stash of tools, we call them the universal keys, because that’s what they are essentially. Everything we board up they take down pretty easily. It’s a matter of us just trying to stay ahead of it the best we can.”

In other news, committee members heard from city resident Missy Paterniti that a home on Water Street had been torn down, with Surdyk saying there are more on Fulton Street that are scheduled for demolition.

The Water Street demolition wasn’t a city-ordered demolition but is instead part of a business expansion by Jamestown Electo-Plating.

“The owner of Jamestown Electro-Plating bought it and tore it down,” Surdyk said. “There’s one next to it that we do have condemned. We were actually hoping to pick it up at the next auction but that is on hold, to potentially tear that one down as well and possibly give them a little bit more space across the street. They’re planning to do some additions to their facility. So that could help them do parking across the street for their employees.”

This now-vacant site was cleared by Jamestown Electo-Plating to create additional space for the company’s expansion. The property had been considered an eyesore.