In Lawrenceville, focus turns to local eyesores

Hundreds of so-called nuisance properties can be found across metro Atlanta, and Lawrenceville, a Gwinnett County city of 30,000, is a microcosm of the problem. As of Nov. 4, Lawrenceville had 113 nuisance properties — those where code enforcement staff have had trouble tracking down owners to cut foot-high grass, remove cars from yards or fix dilapidated stairways and porches.

The problem varies elsewhere in metro Atlanta. While Norcross, Duluth and College Park each have fewer than 10 nuisance properties that code enforcers are actively working on, Sandy Springs counts between 100 and 120, and Atlanta numbers above 450.

“It’s a beast, I won’t lie to you,” said Lt. Tim Wallis, Lawrenceville Police Department special operations commander. “Quality of life issues take up most of my time.”

Lawrenceville leaders said the problem stems mostly from the rise of tenant-occupied and foreclosed properties citywide. Foreclosure cases have proved to be the most difficult.

With owners walking away from homes, banks going under and mortgages changing hands multiple times, city officials said no one wants to take responsibility for a property’s upkeep. And that’s assuming a responsible party can be found, Wallis said.

“Even for law firms, it’s difficult to find the group responsible for that house at the moment,” City Council member Marie Beiser said. “You can get something straightened out this week, and then the next week someone is parked on the grass.”

In Norcross, code enforcers examine tax records, search for forwarding addresses on utility bills and even contact neighbors to track down the owners of dilapidated homes.

“You start with the obvious and you get creative,” said Philomena Robertson, Norcross’ code enforcement supervisor. “If there’s a cleaning company, I’ll ask, ‘Who hired you?’ We had a house that caught on fire and no one could locate the owner. I had heard the new owner’s name, so I Googled him and found him in California. He didn’t know how the house caught on fire.”

Given the difficulty of bringing some properties into compliance, East Point Mayor Earnestine Pittman said she enlists neighbors in the cleanup cause.

“We are asking residents if you live next door to one, for your own safety and health just cut the grass next door,” Pittman said.

Atlanta’s Office of Code Compliance has dealt with 459 nuisance properties over the past 30 days. The city has had success in property cleanup by working with the city’s Solicitor’s Office and the Atlanta Police Department to conduct sweeps of communities with the most egregious violations, director Kevin Bean said.

“We not only go after private property owners but also corporations and bank officers listed as owners,” Bean said in an e-mail.

In Lawrenceville, the issue of nuisance properties was highlighted in the Nov. 2 City Council elections. Before the election, groups such as the Lawrenceville Neighborhood Alliance held incumbents, particularly Mayor Rex Millsaps, responsible for the state of the city’s neighborhoods.

In subdivision after subdivision, residents complained of weeds growing up to 5 feet, appliances scattered in lawns and graffiti painted on the sides of garages. They argued city officials have been slow to act, with some properties lingering as nuisances for up to three years.

“The wheels turn very slowly,” said 22-year resident David Jones, a member of the Lawrenceville Neighborhood Alliance. “In this growing city, it can go from being okay one day to deteriorate severely in a month. What we want as the LNA is action taken by the city to bring these properties into compliance.”

That’s not a simple feat, city officials said. They maintain that nuisance properties often go in and out of foreclosure and, occasionally, in and out of the court system.

“One of the downfalls of this system is the right hand knowing what the left hand is doing,” Wallis said. “Once a citation is written, it’s out of our hands and in the hands of the judicial system.”

Without a court order, state law prevents city workers from using taxpayer dollars to fix up private property.

A Dogwood Lane property has been uninhabitable for several years after a fire scorched the home. Vickie Maddox, who has lived next door for five years, said the property, with its boarded-up windows and “No trespassing” signs, is a breeding ground for crime. She said vagrants have tried to break into the home to sleep.

“Sometimes when it rains, you get odors — like rotten sewage,” Maddox said.

To stem the rash of problems, the city mailed brochures of its property maintenance ordinance to homeowners with their utility bills. In addition, Lawrenceville now allows residents to report nuisance properties anonymously. Beiser said the city gets about 80-percent compliance once a notice is issued.

Newly elected Lawrenceville Mayor Judy Jordan Johnson has pledged to make neighborhood revitalization one of her top responsibilities after she takes office in January.

That’s good news to residents like Thompson, whose “Eyesore of the Week” page has been up for two months.

“I just think the city needs to make [neighborhoods] more of a priority,” Thompson said.