Chesapeake begins rehab for blighted properties

CHESAPEAKE

Plywood covers windows on the worn three-bedroom house at 1414 Ohio St. The detached garage's door is missing, and the grass is sparse.

Not very long ago, neighbors complained of noise and crowds, of cars that came and went.

"It was a problem the entire summer," said Kenny Martin, a South Norfolk neighborhood watch president who lives nearby.

The Chesapeake Redevelopment and Housing Authority purchased the 1,122-square-foot South Norfolk home with funds earmarked for neighborhood blight.

The Chesapeake City Council in May appropriated $860,000 for the housing authority, which would identify and purchase "properties of concern," said Mark Woodward, the city's former housing coordinator.

"The idea is to try to focus on housing or properties in a neighborhood or block that are problematic for some reason," he said, "to stabilize that block or neighborhood one house at a time."

The home at 1414 Ohio St. was the first purchased. More could follow.

Two high-profile shootings that left an infant and a Chesapeake police officer dead within months in late 2007 and early 2008 prompted the South Norfolk community revitalization and housing initiative.

The housing authority recently paid $151,100 for the home, said Dewayne Alford, executive deputy director.

Right now, "we are simply evaluating how much rehabilitation it would take to prepare it for resale to a first-time home buyer," Alford said.

Ohio Street was the site of three shootings last summer, including one that left Curtis Lee Brown, 20, dead.

Two other young men died from gunshot wounds in South Norfolk on July 1, prompting a series of community meetings that led to more initiatives, including a gun buy-back program and a campaign that encourages young people to report crimes.

Alford called the purchase of the house "a small piece of the pie" aimed at targeting crime in South Norfolk.

The housing authority for years has identified and purchased properties on behalf of the city, Woodward said. But "it's always been a bit hampered by funding restrictions," he said. "The community revitalization is a new infusion of cash into the process to help accelerate things a little bit."

Kristin Davis, (757) 222-5555, kristin.davis@pilotonline.com