Building condemnations on city agenda

Hot Springs board to consider 5 properties on list of unsafe/vacant structures

HOT SPRINGS — Eleven resolutions condemning vacant/ unsafe structures will have come before the Hot Springs Board of Directors this year after the board’s Tuesday night business meeting, where five condemnations are on the agenda.

The board appropriated $100,000 from the city’s general fund last summer to address a backlog of almost 200 properties on the planning and development department’s list of vacant/unsafe structures. The money went to the department’s unsafe-structures demolition budget, giving the city more resources to take down condemned buildings.

The budget adjustment came after the board’s 2022 goal-setting/budget priorities work session in July, when it resolved to fund more demolitions. Last summer’s appropriation raised the 2021 demolition budget to $160,000.

The finance department said Friday that $48,250 of last year’s allocation was carried over to the 2022 budget, giving the city $148,250 for demolitions.

The city has filed notices to condemn for 16 properties since the board provided more demolition funding last summer. The 2021 and 2022 demolition budgets almost matched the $175,000 in general fund money allocated for demolitions from 2018 to 2020.

The city’s Community Development Block Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development supplemented the demolition budget in those years, with the board committing more than $200,000 in grant funds from 2016 to 2020.

The fiscal 2022 block grant priority list the board adopted in April didn’t include funding for abatement of nuisance structures. Nor did the 2021 priority list, which allocated most of the city’s $439,471 grant to the construction of a resource center for the homeless.

The city has said about $4,000 to $5,000 is needed to remove a vacant structure that has fallen into disrepair, a cost that can include hiring attorneys to notify owners the city is unable to locate. Owners often lack the wherewithal to bring dilapidated properties up to code, as many are deceased or living in long-term care facilities. Liens and back taxes can exceed the value of the properties, discouraging relatives who inherit them from making improvements.

The city has said most of the demolition liens it puts on condemned properties lapse before they can be collected. The claims become unenforceable after 10 years and are written off as bad debt.

The city told the board several properties it will consider for condemnation Tuesday night have been out of compliance with the property maintenance code for more than 20 years. The owners of one are deceased.

City Attorney Brian Albright recommended that two resolutions be tabled until the city can notify the properties’ mortgage holders.

“We’re looking to see whether or not there’s been a satisfaction of that mortgage and release of that lien,” he told the board at its April 26 agenda meeting. “If there has not been one, my suggestion is to bring it up for discussion and table it. That way we save the date served on the record titleholder.”

Condemnations aren’t final until 30 days after the board adopts the enabling resolution.