Macon-Bibb County Commission to take up blight issues Tuesday

During its Tuesday meeting, the Macon-Bibb County Commission could designate funds for tearing down condemned structures and also allow a local organization to develop a list of various blight projects.

The commission is set to vote on two blight agenda items, including one that would set aside $450,000 of $9 million in blight funds for demolishing dilapidated properties. The other would have the Middle Georgia Regional Commission use data models to identify blight projects that the county could tackle.

The $450,000 would come from each commissioner pitching in $50,000 of their $1 million in blight bond funding. The ordinance up for a vote Tuesday was created by an ad hoc blight committee as a way to allow blight work to begin while details about hiring a consultant are worked out.

Commissioner Virgil Watkins said that if the ordinance is approved, in as soon as a couple of weeks he could begin to take initial steps to demolish several homes in his district. He has identified 25 houses that would likely be the first group to be demolished. Watkins estimates he would need to use $300,000 of his $1 million to tear down those properties.

“I haven’t decided if I’ll start at the northeast corner or southeast corner of my district and make my way around,” Watkins said Monday.

Commissioner Gary Bechtel said he also supports setting aside the $450,000. There has also been discussion among some county leaders about using a portion of the $9 million on revolving loan projects. The county could have the Macon-Bibb Land Bank Authority finance work, redevelop the properties and put them back on the tax rolls, he said.

“You have a few commissioners that want to peel off $100,000 to $150,000 and put it in a revolving loan fund that would allow developers or churches to identify properties that they are interested in,” Bechtel said. Watkins has suggested using about $641,000 in a revolving loan to promote investments along a portion of Pio Nono Avenue.

Discussions among Macon-Bibb leaders about how to use $10 million in blight funds has been ongoing for months. The commission voted in July to allocate $1 million apiece to the nine commissioners for blight projects. It rejected Mayor Robert Reichert’s proposal of spending the money on four specific projects.

The remaining $1 million from the $10 million total will be spent on waste disposal and community engagement.

Reichert said last week that the Regional Commission’s list is only to provide suggestions for future blight projects. The projects would be included in the updated Urban Development Plan.

“What I’m hoping to get is illustrations and examples of what (commissioners) might want to do,” he said Aug. 24.

The Regional Commission estimates it would take about six months to compile the list.

Information from Telegraph archives was used in this report. To contact writer Stanley Dunlap, call 744-4623 or find him on Twitterclrtxt xmlns:saxo="http://ns.saxotech.com/SaxoInDesign/2.0/" val="-1" cls="533808"/>

This story was originally published August 31, 2015 at 10:19 PM with the headline "Macon-Bibb County Commission to take up blight issues Tuesday ."