New Ohio Law Outlaws Plywood On Vacant Buildings

Wheeling Sees Room to Improve Blight Areas, Ohio Outlaws Plywood from Vacant Buildings

WHEELING -- In light of Ohio outlawing the use of plywood to seal vacant properties, Wheeling Vice Mayor Chad Thalman said the city could certainly do more to improve the appearance of its abandoned buildings.

He said ideas that have been presented include new potential penalties and incentives for owners of vacant structures, as well as reviving the city's inactive building facade improvement program. He said such ideas are still a matter of discussion, although they may be brought up during various city meetings within the next few months.

Wheeling's development committee did discuss the facade improvement program at a meeting in early December, and a draft of a new mock program was recommended.

Ohio's prohibition on plywood was among bills signed Wednesday by Gov. John Kasich, and it will take effect in 90 days.

The bill does not specify repercussions for breaking the ban.

The measure will likely be a boon for a practice known as "clear boarding," which has been catching on around the country. Proponents argue these clear, polycarbonate windows are more secure than plywood and don't present an eyesore to the surrounding neighborhood.

Robert Klein, founder of Cleveland-based clear board maker SecureView, said the Ohio law makes a bold statement against urban decay.

"This is a significant advancement for those engaged in the battle against neighborhood blight in Ohio," Klein said. "Plywood is an outdated solution to a growing modern-day problem."

Wheeling 3rd Ward Councilman Brian Wilson, who has experience restoring historic structures, said he finds it a little odd that a property owner would want to make the interior of a vacant building visible with clear boards. He said, however, he would be interested to know the effects clear boarding would have make on property values.

Plywood has been an industry standard for securing vacated housing for so many decades that the very act of doing so is called "boarding up" the property. It's widely available, easy to use and inexpensive.

However, supporters of using a different material say plywood is susceptible to break-ins and vandalism, obstructs the visibility for first responders and sends a visual signal that depreciates surrounding property values.

Marilyn Thompson, of the APA-Engineered Wood Association, said the trade organization representing North American plywood makers views the debate as primarily aesthetic.

"Plywood has very good structural properties, so we wouldn't see any significant difference in terms of security," she said. "In terms of aesthetics, if building owners want to have the option to use that, that's fine. But to ban the use of plywood and to make it mandatory to use the clear boarding really removes options for property owners and puts an additional burden on them by removing lower cost options."

Thompson said a 4-by-8-foot sheet of plywood that's 15/32 inches thick costs $17 to $20, while a similar-sized sheet of clear polycarbonate costs about $115.

In Ohio, the plywood ban comes close on the heels of another new law that sped up foreclosures on vacant and abandoned properties, sometimes called zombie properties because they languish like the living dead.

It establishes a fast-track system trimming Ohio's foreclosure process from two years or more to as little as six months.

Rep. Jonathan Dever, the bill's sponsor, said the plywood ban applies only to properties sent through that process, which should now be turned over much more quickly. The Cincinnati Republican said they represent a fraction of Ohio's total annual foreclosures.

"If you drive through a neighborhood and there's boarded-up houses, what does that tell you? Nobody's there," Dever said. "The idea is, if you're going to foreclose on a house, let's not advertise that it's empty. Let's avoid break-ins and vandalism and let's get it sold as soon as possible."

Wheeling does administer its own vacant building registration program, which was started in 2009. The city deems a building vacant if no one conducts a business or lives in any part of the building, has one or more building code violations, and has lacked utility services for 30 days.

Under the program, property owners are handed a fee based on the amount of time a building sits empty. For one year, this is $200. For five or more years, it is $1,600 plus $300 for each additional year beyond five.