By Ray King
A proposed ordinance dealing with setting time limits on blight removal in Pine Bluff, among other things, will be sent to the City Council with a do-pass recommendation.
At a meeting of the Development and Planning Committee held by Zoom Tuesday, Council Members Glen Brown Jr., and Win Trafford indicated their support for the proposal, after it was explained to them by Maurice Taggart, the Executive Director of the Urban Renewal Agency.
The third member of the committee, Council Member Bruce Lockett was not present.
Taggart said that currently, blight removal is a lengthy process and the time from first inspection to an order for demolition can be at least 111 days, and sometimes longer if the property owner is given additional time to try and bring the structure up to code.
He said after talking to the Code Enforcement Director for Pine Bluff, both agreed that it would be beneficial to reduce that amount of time, particularly when the structure is to be torn down. The proposed ordinance provides that demolition would occur within 15 days of the order, rather than the 30 days which is currently allowed.
A subsection of the proposed ordinance also deals with burnt-out structures. Taggart said he had talked to Fire and Emergency Services Chief Shauwn Howell who reported that there are about 100 burnt-out structures in the city currently and an additional 30 or so are added each year. To remedy that, the proposed ordinance provides that if damage to the structure is determined to be at least 50 percent of what it would cost to remodel or renovate it, the structure would be determined to be a nuisance and the owner would be given 15 business days to tear it down.
Should the owner not comply, the Code Enforcement Director may order the structure’s removal. Taggart said the ordinance used the word may instead of shall because there might be circumstances where immediate removal would not be possible, for example, if the manpower or resources were not available.
The proposed ordinance is expected to be on the agenda when the council meets Monday, Nov. 16 at the Pine Bluff Convention Center.
