Tour gives Augusta leaders an up-close look at blighted areas
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Augusta commissioners toured different neighborhoods on Friday to discuss topics like the code enforcement process, abandoned property owners and blight issues.
Topics such as the code enforcement process, demolition chain of responsibility, abandoned property owners, blight challenges and more are all topics planned for discussion which will be narrated by the Department of Augusta Planning and Development/Code Enforcement.
It’s a growing problem that neighbors say has been going on for years. They say they want a permanent solution.
Eyes are the window to the soul, and if you could see Byron Sandford’s soul, it is just as sore as the eye sores around him.
“It’s depressing to see, I could every house had kids, we played every Saturday,” he said.
Sandford grew up on Mercier Street, but as time moved on, “The people are gone. But their houses are here,” he said.
Now swallowed by grass, some homes are barely standing.
“They have put some condemned house signs on the doors, and we will be assuming that they will soon be torn down and taken care of, but nothing ever happens,” said Sandford. “What is the city doing?”
The city is working to find the answer.
Commissioner Jordan Johnson said: “We’re going to have to go back to the drawing board and figure out how to tweak our own ordinances, to give us more authority, to fix some of these issues.”
Commissioner Tony Lewis said: “I would like to see more funding to demolish some of these properties. You know, there’s, there’s only but so much funding.”
Leaders also say they are working on how to bring in developers to come in and clean up some of these properties.
“I’m going to be asking my colleagues to sit down for a work session with code enforcement and other divisions, to figure out how we can sort of put pen to paper to move some of these initiatives forward,” said Johnson.
Sandford said: “If they’re not going to take care of them, tear it down, clear the land out. And maybe put them up for sale, however, it works, whatever it does to just clean it up.”
Commissioners are bouncing around the idea of a possible second tour of these neighborhoods.
They say the biggest thing for them is getting funding to demolish these properties and clean up the blight.
The tour was held from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. starting at the front of the municipal building.
For more information, please the City ’s Office, 535 Telfair Street, at 706-821-2400.
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