The Virginian-Pilot
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RICHMOND
A bill advanced this afternoon allowing cities to fix abandoned homes in ill repair.
Senate Bill 122 expands upon an anti-blight law passed three years ago and heavily promoted by Norfolk and Portsmouth in their battle to improve neighborhoods plagued by crime and low property values.
The expansion will give Circuit Court judges the authority to allow cities to contract for repairs of residential properties declared blighted, meaning they’re a danger to public safety and have been abandoned, boarded up and without water or utilities for at least six months, according to state code. The city can then seek permission from the court to sell the property and recoup its investment, returning any remaining profits to the owner.
The owner may also pay for the repairs to prevent a sale.
The city of Richmond, the Virginia Municipal League, the Virginia Association of Realtors and Virginia First Cities, a coalition of the state’s 13 oldest cities, spoke this afternoon in support of the legislation. An identical bill unanimously passed the House last week.
Sen. John Watkins, R-Powhatan County, the bill’s patron, said the legislation is careful to avoid expanding eminent domain, which allows the government to take private property for public use. However, it expedites the current process for cities to repair or demolish blighted properties, which can take several years.
The bill also ensures the property owner retains some rights and benefits from sale of the property, said Mark Flynn, director of legal services for the Virginia Municipal League, a nonprofit association of local governments.
If passed, the legislation will help cities such as Richmond that are struggling to fix blighted homes, some of which have been abandoned for a decade or more, said Jon Baliles, assistant to the director of planning and development for the city.
“This is mainly a tool for homes and property owners that are negligent. These are the worst of the worst,” Baliles said. “This just allows us to go in and accelerate the rehabilitation.”
The Senate Committee on Local Government unanimously passed the bill, sending it to the Senate floor for a vote.
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Why so hard?
Why is it so hard and take so long to get control of these abandoned houses? If taxes have not been paid and the owner has been notified and still not paid, then sell the house at auction, pay the city from the profits and return the rest to the owner. I doubt there is any mortgage on any of these properties or they would have already been repossessed and listed for sale. To allow these houses to exist for over a year in this condition is deplorable.