Remaining Privately-Owned Homes On Chestnut Street In Bristol To Be Purchased

There are seven privately-owned properties on a increasingly-vacant Chestnut Street in Bristol Borough, but officials aim to bring that number down to zero.

Using $1 million from the Commonwealth Financing Authority, the Redevelopment Authority of Bucks County plans to purchase the remaining homes and then tear down the rowhomes on the southerly side of Chestnut Street.

“We anticipate funds will also be applied towards completing the demolition of the dwellings on the right side of Chestnut Street,” said Jeff Darwak, executive director of the Redevelopment Authority of Bucks County. “Our goal is to complete that demolition work by summer of this year.”

The borough and Redevelopment Authority of Bucks County have been working to clear the older rowhomes on Chestnut and Elm streets over the years.

In spring 2011, The row homes on neighboring Elm Street were demolished. The homes have been purchased one-by-one by the borough starting in the 1990s.

A series of rowhomes along Elm Street were destroyed in the late 1980s during a large fire.

In the years after the fire, the borough began buying up properties on Elm Street and later Chestnut Street.

Over the years, borough has paid just under $2 million to purchase the properties.

About $2 million has been provided through the state since to purchase the remaining homes and demolish the residences in recent years, according to public records.

Former residents have said the once-thriving neighborhood was besieged with crime, bad landlords, and problems that spurred the borough to keep buying up homes. 

Questions have been raised about what will happen once all the homes are down, but no plans have been made public. Some residents have speculated the land could be redeveloped or used for a park.

Bristol Borough Manager Jim Dillon said there are no plans confirmed for the site.

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