Third village home razed

Ortonville- On Tuesday, a home at 21 Church St. was demolished as part of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program.
Due to the small size of the lot, village officials said the vacant property will either be sold to neighbors, or kept as a village property and maintained.
The Neighborhood Stabilization Program was established in October 2008 and provides grants to counties, which in turn approve funds for local municipalities to acquire properties for demolition or rehabilitation purposes.
As part of the federal program, homes located at 61 Narrin St. and 174 Ball St. in the village were torn down late last year.
Contractors will have until Oct. 1 to finish construction of the new homes, which will be put for sale at cost, according to the rules of the NSP grant. The Narrin Street home must be sold to a family who earns less than 50 percent of the area median income, while the Ball Street home will go to a family who earns 120 percent of the median income. Financial assistance will be available for purchase of the home and village officials plan to have one or two seminars to explain the NSP application process.