Piedmont Mayor Charlie Fagan plans to use a new state law to do a little urban renewal while passing the costs on to property owners.The law, signed last week by the governor, lets city councils clean up properties that are deemed public health hazards and bill the property owners for the costs.
Since he took office last year, Fagan has been on a quest to clean up the town. The City Council has torn down 30 to 40 vacant houses, and Fagan says that’s just the beginning. He wants to start cleaning up the city’s downtown commercial lots next.
The new law could help a lot, he said.
“I look at these places in town and think, what could they do for the town? How much revenue would that bring for the city?” Fagan said. “I’m tired of it. We are not going to sit here and let some property owners continue to hurt the image of our town because they are not willing to fix up their properties.”
Before the law was passed, Fagan’s only option was to ask the owners to clean up their property. If they refused, he could take legal action and have the building destroyed. That left the city with the demolition bill as well.
Now Fagan plans to have the city’s commercial development authority — a group with the goal of drawing businesses to Piedmont — upgrade such structures and charge the costs to the owners.
Doing that will be cheaper in some cases than demolition, Fagan said. The added taxes and the improved appearance they will bring to the city also makes renovating buildings a better choice than knocking them down, he added.
“We can’t make them put up a business in there. But we can make them remodel it to get it up to code. This could mean a $100,000 to $150,000 renovation for one building, but you could have new business in there, and think of what that would mean.”
Even if an owner refuses to do anything with his or her property after the city has compelled them to fix it up, the work still benefits the city with a cleaner appearance and safer environment, Fagan said. Once the new building is appraised, the city also can collect higher property taxes.
One of Fagan’s targets is Buster Miles’ former Chevrolet dealership, which Fagan said needs some repair.
Miles said he doesn’t know about the city’s codes, but he said the structure, which has been vacant three or four years, is up to date with other area buildings that people are living in.
Miles said he disagrees with the law.
“I don’t think it’s necessary, because there are many things the city can do to fix up property without going after a business,” he said.
“We kept the building up, and all the plumbing is running. I’ll admit that after a hard rain there will be some leakage, but I plan to remodel it as soon as I have a prospect to rent it.”
His building is not the only property Fagan is prepared to use the new law to fix up.
The city currently is renovating two older commercial structures in town. Fagan said it is paying off, even though the combined cost of the projects is about $200,000.
“Since fixing up those buildings, we’ve gotten about four calls from other businesses that are interested,” he said.
Fagan’s idea to use the law against commercial property owners is not why the law was written, says Sen. Del Marsh, R-Anniston, a supporter of the law.
The law’s original purpose, Marsh said, was to help cities restore and preserve historic houses without leaving the cities with the large bills. Marsh said Fagan’s plan is fine, too.
Jacksonville Mayor Jerry Smith, who has a number of historic houses in his city that are in need of renovation, said he has heard of the law and is interested in looking at it, but he has not discussed with the council the possibility of using it.
Smith said the city would be willing to look at anything to save the homes, but he doubts the law would work.
“We are not in the business of reconstruction, nor do we have the funds to do that,” Smith said. “It would be hard for me to imagine fixing those homes — which would be very expensive — and then tracking down the original owner and billing them.”
