The city of Dunkirk has ended a moratorium on sales of its parcels.

The Common Council voted last week to allow the sales of what are known as “paper streets” in City Hall. The council had suspended such transactions in October over concerns that the process was not organized enough.

There are several places in Dunkirk, notably at Point Gratiot, where the city planned streets but never laid them out. The streets often appear on old planning maps deep in the files, hence the term “paper streets.” Dunkirk’s long-running policy is to encourage sales of such parcels to adjacent property owners, in order to cut the city’s maintenance costs.

“The reason (we) have been working on this as long as we have, was to alleviate any future issues,” said City Assessor Erica Munson. “If any residents have any questions or concerns, please reach out to the Assessor’s Office,” cautioning that she is off work until this coming Tuesday.

City Attorney Elliot Raimondo said, “We have a state law that addresses selling city owned property, General Municipal Law 695. I think residents need to be aware that even with the lifting of the moratorium, 695 still requires a 10-day public notice before we sell that property…This process is still going to have to go through being published in the OBSERVER and then being voted on by this council, after it’s been recommended by the Planning (Board).”

The city attorney added, “Erica and I are working together to make sure everything else we don’t really touch in 695 is addressed. 695 talks about how it has to be the highest bidder, but we have to ask how we talk about bids.”