City to restart notice process for problem apartments

A bid to determine whether Camelot Court apartments and nearby properties on North Montgomery Street are a menace to public health must be readvertised after an error was made regarding the initial city notice to property owners.

Aldermen had scheduled a public hearing at Tuesday’s meeting regarding the troubled apartments, along with a motion to determine the public health status of the properties. Both were removed after City Attorney Chris Latimer consulted with property owners and reviewed the public notice process related to the apartments.

“We had not met the requirement of the law to have the public hearing,” said Starkville Mayor Parker Wiseman.

The board then unanimously approved providing proper notice to land owners in the area to facilitate the clean up, seizure or demolition of the properties.

Apartments in the area were hit with multiple code violations in August when city staff inspected Camelot and the surrounding properties. Crime statistics in the area spurred the multi-department effort, according to Starkville police.

Vacant and occupied residences were cited by SPD through the code enforcement division for “contributing to an environment that is fostering multiple criminal activities, poor sanitation (and) poor safety,” according to filed complaints.

Starkville police were called to the area 567 times since August 2013, according to SPD.

Forty-one calls were prompted for security checks and criminal activity witnessed by patrolling SPD officers. Thirty-six calls were the result of simple assaults, disturbances, loud music, loitering, fights and drug activity, according to city data.

Crime statistics from SPD claim officers responded to a call to Camelot every 29 hours over the last three months, and every 46 hours over the last three years. A fatal shooting of a juvenile at the complex last March was determined to be in self defense, according to SPD.

Police statistics show for the last six months, officers were two-thirds more likely to get called to Camelot than to Brooksville Gardens, which is “another area considered a high-crime area,” according to the complaints.

Multiple entities were listed in the complaints with Camelot, including C and H Properties and Development and individual property owners. Representatives from C and H Properties could not be immediately reached for comment Wednesday.