Judge wants owners to answer for townhome blight
The “complicated” problem of what to do about Fox Hollow Townhomes wasn’t untangled on Tuesday, but Environmental Court Judge Patrick Dandridge did rule that the next order of attack is to cite every owner at the deteriorating townhouse community.
There are about 75 units still standing at Fox Hollow, but on Tuesday, only two owners representing seven units were in court to speak to Dandridge about the condition of the complex and the progress being made to address blight, illegal dumping and disrepair.
“It’s a complicated issue. When you have the condominium associations that are not operating properly, this is what you get,” Dandridge said. “It would be a lot different if it was an apartment complex and one owner. You have multiple owners. Multiple owners who are neglecting their properties, putting tenants into conditions that shouldn’t be there and a defunct association. That means there’s no money. It’s complicated.”
Fox Hollow was built as an owner-occupied townhouse community and in the early 1980s, three-bedroom, two-bath units were selling for about $62,000.
Leo Wade, who appeared in Environmental Court, paid $1,000 for one of the six townhouses he owns at what is now a rental community.
There is no management company for the community, which is still governed by a homeowners association. It has hired a manager, but only 10 owners pay the $65 a month dues, said Maurice Batts, the association’s president who was also in court on Tuesday and owns one unit.
“That won’t cut the grass,” Batts said before court convened.
Batts also told Dandridge that Waste Management informed him that it was canceling its contract with the city of Memphis to pick up trash.
He said he’d complained about the company, which would only pick up trash that was in the cart and not bags of overflow garbage or yard debris.
“I keep insisting that they give us the same service that they give everybody else. And I think that’s their retaliation. To avoid giving us that service they just cancel it,” Batts said.
Owners cited
Dandridge ordered citations for every owner at Fox Hollow over the problems in the common areas that include proper lighting, proper garbage disposal and illegal dumping.
“Everyone as an owner is ultimately responsible and they so should be aware of these proceedings,” he said.
Only about 40 townhouses are occupied, Batts said. He doesn’t know how many individual owners there are. But “everybody needs to be in here,” Wade said. Wade said he doesn’t pay dues, but has done so much general work around the property that tenants assume he’s management. His work, he said, should count for his dues.
“People treat me like I’m the person in charge. And I’m not,” he said.
For the past three years, Fox Hollow has been a project for community activist Patricia Rogers, who attends church across the street.
She told Dandridge about tenants who complained of rats, roaches and rodents and believes the state of Fox Hollow is a public safety concern.
And finding those property owners is going to be a challenge.
“It’s going to be very difficult because some of them live in Chicago, Tampa, Florida. I’ve even heard of a homeowner in China,” Rogers said. “This is just a situation where it seems like we’re not going to be able to solve some problems right away.”