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LISBON -- Of the 21 commercial storefronts currently vacant in downtown Lisbon, none are for rent or for sale and that is a major reason why the downtown is in the shape it's in, according to a representative from a consulting firm specializing in revitalizing small town business districts.
"People sitting there with vacant buildings who are doing nothing with them are a blight on the community," Mark Peluso told Village Council's new economic development committee at its recent meeting. Peluso is executive director of Town Center Associates, the consulting firm hired by Village Council and the Lisbon Area Chamber of Commerce to help revive downtown Lisbon.
TCA has already begun some preliminary work, which included taking an inventory of downtown businesses and how many storefronts were occupied. Peluso said they were not so much surprised that 21 of the 88 storefronts were vacant but that the building owners were making no attempt to either rent or sell them.
"It's terrible. Your community is suffering because of these landlords," he said, because these vacant storefronts make it less attractive for business to move here, drive down property values and generally make Lisbon a less desirable place to live.
TCA's services have been used by 70 towns, and Peluso said Lisbon is the first one where none of the landlords with vacant business properties were actively trying to rent or sell them. He said vacant storefronts left to fall into disrepair are a drag on the entire community, which is why the focus of TCA is to help building owners find tenants.
Although Peluso did not get into possible remedies, council was told before it would need to pass legislation requiring owners of vacant businesses to make some effort to rent or sell the building. Failure to do so would result in being fined.
"Any business is better than no business, and I can think we can all agree on that," he said.
The clock on TCA's one-year contract began ticking Jan. 1, but Peluso said they have been in town performing field work, taking photographs of buildings and tracking down owners, with the information to be incorporated into an online database that can be accessed by any prospective business looking to locate here. Each building will be analyzed to determine if anything needs to be done to bring it up to code or what changes are required to restore the building to its original architectural look.
Peluso said their preliminary work determined Lisbon has a 24 percent building vacancy rate -- the ideal vacancy rate should be 4 percent at any one time, as businesses come and go. He pointed to Salem, which lost seven to eight businesses in 2016 but 14-15 moved in, for a net gain.
To transform Lisbon they need to attract more quality businesses, which are described as retail, food and drink, personal services, and government agencies. Approximately 41 percent of businesses in Lisbon (33 of the 67 occupied storefronts) fall into this category, but for downtowns to be vibrant they need to be 80 percent.
When the field work is completed, TCA will recommend what steps need to be taken by the village, including updating its building codes to enforce some of the new changes. He said they will also need to develop some structure at village hall to enforce these changes.
TCA will next meet with the economic development committee on Feb. 7 to continue working on Lisbon's plan.
tgiambroni@mojonews.com