North Little Rock Mayor Joe Smith is asking the City Council to approve acquiring certain properties in a distressed area of the city. The purchases would create redevelopment opportunities and encourage investment in the residential neighborhood off Pike Avenue, his chief of staff said.
The City Council is to consider a resolution to appropriate $10,000 from the general fund for the mayor's proposal at its 6 p.m. meeting today. Acquisition of individual properties isn't to exceed $500 each, according to the legislation.
"What it's about is trying to find some way to assist in the revitalization for some of these older neighborhoods that have been distressed for a long time," Chief of Staff Danny Bradley said.
The area identified in the legislation is a block bordered on the west by Pike Avenue, on the north by West 23rd Street, on the south by West 22nd Street and on the east by Railroad Avenue. There are several vacant lots and abandoned properties in that area, Bradley said.
"[The mayor] wants to start in that particular area because there are a number of properties that can be acquired just for taxes, probably for $500 or less," Bradley said. "We're trying to acquire those and hopefully put together blocks that can be offered for some development for a neighborhood revitalization effort.
"Not that many [properties] have been identified, but hopefully as we get into the program we'll have funds available to buy those that come available," Bradley said. The city doesn't have any particular development in its plans at this time, he added.
The project is a way to address some blight in North Little Rock caused by neglected properties often held by absent owners, city spokesman Nathan Hamilton said.
The legislation states that the area chosen off Pike Avenue has several properties "distressed by clouded title or neglect," and which fall under such headings as being unsafe, vacant, dilapidated, unsightly or detrimental to the city.
"This area has several properties that fit our understanding of problem houses," Hamilton said. "So instead of trying to fight multiple code and condemnation issues at each individual property, with owners who sometimes have never even seen the house, we're going to try buying them and applying some community block grants to all of the properties at the same time."
Hamilton added that the proposal is only "about a few properties" and will be a test to see if the city can later expand on the idea in order to improve other areas, as well.
By assembling a few properties in a defined area, Bradley said, the aim is to "encourage some investment in that area," without the city having to spend much money. If successful, the improvements would affect the whole neighborhood, Bradley said, including residents whose property values have been negatively affected by the neglected properties.
"There are a lot of properties over there that are still occupied by homeowners," Bradley said. "They keep their properties up, and other properties around them have been left to degrade, and some of them have been torn down and are just vacant lots.
"It's certainly an opportunity to try to make improvements," he said. "This is just one step and something the mayor felt like was worth trying."
Metro on 09/12/2016