Washington’s effort to prevent historic structures from deteriorating through enforcement of its demolition-by-neglect ordinance will be curtailed in the later part of this year.

“At this time the planning office will cease pursuing new candidates for the Demolition by Neglect Ordinance throughout the remaining 2016 year. Instead we will concentrate on holding the current properties accountable for their project plans. New candidates will be added in 2017 pending the status of current projects,” according to a memorandum from Emily Rebert, community development planner for the city.

“I’d like to stop acquiring new properties and concentrate on the current properties that we have. Everyone’s at different stages. Everyone is doing different things,” Rebert said during the Historic Preservation Commission’s meeting Tuesday.

The city, through Rebert, is working with about a dozen property owners. About 50 of the 600 historic structures in the city are classified as being in need of significant repairs to keep them from further deteriorating.

During the past year or so, the city became more aggressive with its effort to prevent structures in the historic district from deteriorating then disappearing.

As a result of that effort, several properties in Washington are affected or could be affected by the city’s demolition-by-neglect ordinance. The commission regularly receives updates on some of those properties from Rebert.

“You have accomplished at lot,” commission chairman Ed Hodges told Rebert on Tuesday.

The demolition-by-neglect ordinance is used by the city to keep historically and/or architecturally significant properties from deteriorating to the point they cannot be saved by rehabilitation measures.

The city has condemned and demolished several buildings in recent years. Efforts to save and restore some of those buildings have met with mixed results. A house on Water Street was condemned, but the city, after a public outcry, rescinded that condemnation so it could be restored and renovated. The house behind Tattoo Rich, the tattoo parlor at the corner of West Second and Bridge streets, was demolished after attempts to save it failed.

As part of enforcing the demolition-by-neglect ordinance, the city sends letters to owners of affected properties asking them to make needed repairs and/or improvements to those properties to help prevent their deterioration. If those repairs are not made, the city can condemn the properties and have them demolished.

Earlier this year, Rebert said the city is “trying to work in a progressive kind of way, get people working on their properties little by little. … As long as we’re moving in a forward progression, that’s something.”