Residents have options for irritating properties

If anyone knows what it's like living near eyesores, it's the residents of Sand Hills.

Once a proud black community, the historic Augusta neighborhood slipped into decline as younger residents left for better opportunities after the civil rights movement and older residents died off -- leaving abandoned houses and relatives scattered across the country. Despite revitalization efforts that began earlier in the decade, much of the scenery remains marred by dilapidated homes.

License and Inspection Department Director Rob Sherman's advice: Don't sit back and take it. Report deadbeat property owners to code enforcement. His office handles complaints of broken windows, open doors, junk cars, overgrown vegetation, trashy yards and sofas on front porches, among other things.

"Just pointing the places out helps us," Mr. Sherman said at a neighborhood association meeting Thursday. "If you don't see it getting resolved, you've got to stay on us."

But reaching a resolution can be a complicated, lengthy legal process, especially when property owners don't cooperate. In a best-case scenario, code enforcers can convince them to straighten up or sell their property, Mr. Sherman said.

If owners won't fix a problem, the city will have an inmate crew do it and put a lien on the property for its trouble, he said. Unpaid liens and unpaid taxes can result in a property being sold on the courthouse steps, but an owner has a year to pay up and reclaim the lot.

If the city does take over, about $150,000 has been set aside for demolitions, but there's a backlog of "a couple of hundred" structures that need tearing down, Mr. Sherman said. More help for neglected, historic neighborhoods will come out of $750,000 set aside from a bond floated to build a downtown trade, event and exhibit center.

The director offered a few bits of advice relevant to any Richmond County resident who's fed up with a deadbeat neighbor.

- A house can't be empty and unsecured. According to the city's "mothball ordinance," it has to be boarded up, but it can only stay that way for two years, after which it's in violation of city code.

- If a property is irritating, but not in violation of a specific ordinance, there might still be relief through the nuisance code, a sort of catch-all. If five property owners come together and declare some activity or eyesore is causing a nuisance, the county can take the owner to magistrate court.

"Our government still has a way for you to take care of problems that don't fit in a box," Sand Hills public relations liaison and former mayoral candidate Steven Kendrick told the group. "That is a way to take back your neighborhood."

Resident Annie Latson said it's time to do just that.

"Sand Hills needs a lot of work," she said. "We don't want to be forgotten about."

Reach Johnny Edwards at (706) 823-3225 or johnny.edwards@augustachronicle.com.