WEIRTON — The city is looking for some bad buildings in the community.

First set up by the West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Center, the BAD Buildings program provides technical assistance, research and other resources to rural communities to address brownfield, abandoned and dilapidated properties.

According to information provided by Weirton Planning and Development Director Mark Miller, BAD Buildings “is a community program that assists in creating an inventory of brownfield, abandoned, and dilapidated properties using windshield/walking surveys.”

Representatives of the Brownfield Assistance Center will visit Weirton to provide initial training on the processes to inventory structures deemed dilapidated.

“This inventory will help to guide the city in future projects and development throughout the city, with an emphasis on downtown redevelopment,” Miller noted.

From the inventory, the city will be able to create a vacant building registry program — to include a prioritized list of vacant or dilapidated residential or commercial properties — which then can be put toward assistance in applying for grant funding and demolition initiatives and redevelopment projects.

Information from the Brownfields Assistance Center said “BAD” buildings in a community can pose health and safety hazards, noting statistics from the U.S. Fire Administration show the potential for fall and trip hazards, unstable structures, hazardous materials on site, standing water in basements and vermin.

The presence of abandoned and dilapidated buildings has an effect on the value of adjacent properties and can be a contributor to loss of property tax revenue and slowed economic growth.

It isn’t the first time this approach has been taken locally to address property issues.

A decade ago, the Business Development Corp. established its own BAD Buildings program, with assistance from the Brownfield Assistance Center, gaining funding through state and federal agencies, as well as donations from local businesses, to address at least a dozen troubled properties in Hancock and Brooke counties.