The Blytheville Code Enforcement Committee will be regularly adding houses to its condemned property list in an attempt to make demolition more efficient when funds start coming in, according to committee chairman John Musgraves.
Musgraves told the committee he has been in touch with the city's Code Enforcement officers and asked them to bring him five houses every other month to be added to the condemned property list. This, according to Musgraves, will allow the city to start tearing down uninhabitable houses as soon as funding is available.
Committee member Stan Parks said with the city no longer having free landfill, gas or labor, once the property has been condemned, it should be up to the property owner to bear the expense of having the building torn down. Musgraves said the city was in the process of getting to that point, but until then, officials would look at options such as placing liens on the property and/or filing for collection to help the city recover demolition costs.
The committee is also still working on the property code book for the city. The new code book will enable the city's Code Enforcement to require landlords to maintain a certain quality of living for their properties, especially in lower income dwellings.
"When someone builds a house or a set of apartments it has to be up to code," said city building inspector Rick Ash. "But there's no code that makes them keep it up like that. This will fix that problem."
Ash recommended that committee members read through the guidebook approved earlier this year to narrow down specific elements of the code book that apply to this area.
"For example, in this book landlords are required to have heat in their properties, not A/C because its considered a luxury, but they have to provide heat. What you guys need to decide is what months that's appropriate to have as a requirement and what the fine is for not meeting this requirement," Ash said.
The committee agreed to go through the book again before proposing a piece of legislation to bring before the City Council.
cpinkard@blythevillecourier.com