SCRANTON — Kim Lovell has watched in recent years as vegetation overtook a vacant lot next door to her home at 2219 Golden Ave.
The vacant lot at 2217 Golden Ave., at 50 feet wide and 100 feet long, once had a home on it that was razed many years ago, she said. According to public tax assessment records, ownership of the property changed hands seven times since 1990, and most recently twice in 2023, in January and July.
That was probably the last time the lot was maintained. With no mowing since, vegetation has grown rife on the lot. It now includes a thicket of 12-to-15-foot-tall sumac trees and patches of mugwort, pokeweed, oriental bittersweet and grass, to name a few. A few other tree varieties also have taken root.
The owner of 2217 Golden Ave. since July 20, 2023, is named in a public deed and tax-assessment records as Aguilene Berlus of Scranton. Efforts were unsuccessful to reach Berlus.
Lovell has contacted the city about the mini-jungle growing next door, but has been frustrated by what she views as inaction to address the unsightly blight.
Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti said she shares the resident’s frustration, but the city cannot enter private property and clear it, absent a court order.
So, the primary way the city enforces such blight is through issuing “quality of life” citations, Cognetti said. The property at 2217 Golden Ave. received quality-of-life violations from the city in May 2024 and May 2025 for overgrowth of grass, weeds and plants, with each violation carrying a $100 fine. A citation was filed with a magistrate for failure to pay the May 12, 2025, ticket. No plea or court date has yet been entered in that citation.
“We have to go through the courts and it’s extremely frustrating to see it take longer than we would like,” Cognetti said.
Lovell said, “I think it’s ridiculous it’s gone on this long.”
Cognetti’s administration also has legislation pending before Scranton City Council to give the city more ability to respond to blight. Last Tuesday, council introduced an ordinance from the administration to establish a “Blighted Property Review Committee” that would review and determine if a property is blighted, and if so, issue a certification to the Scranton Redevelopment Authority. Such a certification would assist the authority in pursuing eminent domain under the state Urban Redevelopment Law. The ordinance will come back before council at its meeting Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, for a vote on advancement on second reading.
Cognetti said her administration has continued to improve the speed and strength of the city’s response to blighted properties. Increased enforcement also has resulted in more than 3,500 QOL tickets issued since 2022 and the demolition of 72 hazardous structures since 2020, with multiple rounds of demolition expected throughout 2025.
The city also uses a recently established blight crew in numerous ways to abate overgrown public rights of way, potential illegal dumping sites and properties owned by the Lackawanna County Land Bank, which the city is legally obligated to maintain, according to the mayor. But it would not be legal or sustainable for the blight crew to enter privately owned, overgrown properties.
In extreme circumstances, the city can seek court orders to enter private property on a case-by-case basis when situations impact public safety, the mayor said. But the city encourages property owners to abide by city standards regarding property maintenance.
“It shouldn’t be on the city to clean up those properties,” Cognetti said.
Residents with concerns about overgrown properties or other potential code violations can contact Scranton 311 at 570-348-4101 or scranton311@scrantonpa.gov. Complaints are referred to the Code Enforcement team for further investigation.
Trees and weeds grow rife on a vacant lot at 2217 Golden Ave. in Scranton, on Monday, July 7, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Trees and weeds grow rife on a vacant lot at 2217 Golden Ave. in Scranton, on Monday, July 7, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Trees and weeds grow rife on a vacant lot at 2217 Golden Ave. in Scranton, on Monday, July 7, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Trees and weeds growing rife on a vacant lot at 2217 Golden Ave. in Scranton are starting to overtake the sidewalk on Monday, July 7, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
A vacant lot at 2217 Golden Ave. in Scranton is bare and mowed in Sept. of 2022. (SCREEN COPY / GOOGLE STREET VIEW)
Trees and weeds grow rife on a vacant lot at 2217 Golden Ave. in Scranton, on Monday, July 7, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)