Board names dilapidated buildings

By Katie Stallcup (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Wednesday, December 12, 2007

NATCHEZ — The board of aldermen declared 22 dilapidated buildings unsafe and ready for demolition at Tuesday’s meeting.

City Building Inspector Paul Dawes presented a list of 22 properties to the board. The properties must next be approved by the circuit court for demolition.

That extra time it takes to get through the court would provide the owners time to fix problems, Dawes said.

“The persons associated with the properties have the opportunity to take care of business and correct the problems or take the homes down,” Dawes said. “They have ample opportunity for the problems to be corrected.”

Properties to be demolished include buildings on Irving Street, North Martin Luther King Street, North Union Street, October Street and Minor Street, among others.

Alderman James “Ricky” Gray said the city had created a longer list with more than 100 properties to be demolished and asked why they were not on Dawes list.

Dawes said he had not seen the list but would address them in the future.

Gray, who has expressed concerns in recent meetings about dangers posed by dilapidated houses, asked if the city had the funding to demolish the buildings.

The city budgeted $50,000 this year to demolish unsafe buildings, but that would not begin to address the city’s list, Mayor Phillip West said.

“It’s a start, but it’s not even going to take care of the 22 on the list, not to mention the rest,” West said.

Dawes said the list of 22, and especially the list of more than 100, would keep the city busy for a while.

“It’s way more than we can do in one year, but we’ve got to have a starting point,” Dawes said.

In other business, the board:

4Received a donation of $5,000 from Waste Management to go toward the construction of the Natchez Trails Project.

4Approved advertising for bids for the sewer project to the future Corrections Corporation of America corrections facility.

4Moved the second January meeting to Jan. 24.

4In the planning session prior to the regular meeting, the board heard from Emerald Star — Natchez, LLC Marketing Director Baxter Lee, who expressed the company’s interest in constructing a digital billboard sign at the entrance of the site of the future casino and hotel.