A broken window in an abandoned home is seen in Highland Park. In addition to identifying abandoned houses in the neighborhood, Chattanooga Police Officer Gregory and community members have worked to identify and correct blight there.Chattanooga may take on a new strategy to combat neighborhood blight.
Mayor Andy Berke’s 2017 budget proposal calls for contracting with an attorney to serve as the city’s administrative hearing officer, who has more flexibility than an environmental court judge to deal with owners of dilapidated properties. Fines issued by an administrative hearing officer also pack a punch 10 times tougher than the $50 fines repeat violators sometimes face in environmental court.
The problem of decrepit houses probably stands as “the one issue that troubles neighborhoods the most,” Berke said in a recent phone interview. Broken down homes drive down the values of surrounding properties and diminish the interest of those property owners to invest in their houses, he said.
Councilman Chris Anderson said he sees this as a solution to a real and ongoing problem associated with bank-owned properties and slum lords, not “the elderly lady who is not cutting her grass.”
Currently, repeat violators see a $50 fine as the cost of doing business that compares cheaply to fixing damaged roofs and porches, Anderson said.