Floyd County plans to address blighted tracts
Commissioners weigh the costs of a Clean It or Lien It program against property maintenance and land bank donations.
Commissioners weigh Clean It or Lien It costs against maintenance and land bank donations.
Floyd County commissioners took a look at the dormant Clean It or Lien It program used to address blighted properties, but decided against reviving it.
Commission Chair Rhonda Wallace said the presentation from Howard Gibson, chief building official for the city and county, made it clear there’s a high cost attached.
The board confirmed their support for disposing of abandoned lots through the Rome-Floyd County Land Bank Authority, which was formed to assemble parcels and market them for private redevelopment.
“We get calls from people saying they can’t believe we gave away property to the land bank, but there’s a real expense to tearing down the houses and cleaning up the lots,” Wallace said. “If we transfer them to the land bank, whoever buys them has that responsibility.”
Gibson said the city of Rome used the Clean It or Lien It program to address safety and health hazards before the Great Recession. Owners cited for code violations were given time to rehabilitate their property or the city would do it and attach a lien to recover the cost.
“Back when the city was going at it hot and heavy, the economy was good,” Gibson said. “We did over 150 demolitions in South Rome alone … but you have to be cautious about it.”
Many property owners just walked away when the recession hit and land prices plummeted. The city only recouped the expense on about 10 of those actions, Gibson said.
It takes about three months for the process to work its way through court, he explained, and each one averages $6,000 to $8,000, including attorney’s fees, teardown and landfill tipping fees.
Gibson said it’s time-consuming and expensive but was one way to deal with blight. Currently, he said, there are about 20 abandoned houses scattered around the county that should be demolished. Instead, Public Works crews have to make time to cut the grass to keep vermin from infesting the lots.
“One falling-in house is the beginning of a cancer in a neighborhood,” Commissioner Wright Bagby noted.
Gibson said citations for code violations are motivating some property owners to do the required maintenance, but in some cases it’s not effective.
“In East Rome a lot are owner-occupied, but they’re elderly people who can’t get it taken care of. At that point we have to decide how tough we want to be,” he said. “And some of those absentee convenience store owners … what’s a fine to them?”
Grants are available to help homeowners repair their residences, and some benefit additionally from annual mission work that brings church volunteers to help out.
And, Assistant County Manager Gary Burkhalter said, money is now being earmarked in the budget to target about five abandoned properties a year in the unincorporated area.
Wallace said transferring some of the properties to the Land Bank Authority doesn’t recover the clean-up cost, but it keeps the expenses from continuing and could eventually get them back on the tax rolls.