More than 1,500 subdivisions — representing tens of thousands of vacant lots — in the Atlanta region have sat dormant for at least a year in the wake of the housing bust, according to the real estate data firm Metrostudy.
Some will take decades to build out.
The mess has left counties searching for ways to complete basic infrastructure tasks, such as laying the top layer of asphalt on roads and putting in sidewalks.
In Paulding, leaders have spent months assessing roads, sidewalks, curbs, streetlights, and other problems in more than 170 neighborhoods left behind by defunct builders.
Now, they’re considering an unorthodox remedy -- shelling out county dollars to finish what developers should have done in the first place.
In Sunday's newspaper, the AJC tells the story of why counties can't collect the money from developers and why Paulding County is stepping in. You'll only find it by picking up a copy of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution or logging on to the paper's iPad app. Subscribe today.
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