Atlanta City Council proposes buying blighted properties that ‘hinder’ development, revitalization

ATLANTA — At Monday’s Atlanta City Council meeting, the council members proposed a resolution to use city funds to buy up blighted and condemned properties in the city as part of a bid to boost development and solve community issues.

The proposal comes less than a month after the council passed their plan to levy additional taxes on the owners of blighted properties.

As Channel 2 Action News has reported, owners of blighted properties in Atlanta could see their taxes increase as much as 25 times the current property tax rate, as a strategy to cut down the amount of vacant, abandoned and blighted properties in the city.

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Larger properties would also have to have owners agree to and provide detailed redevelopment plans, which Atlanta officials said would need to be related to connectivity, transportation and public amenities in the neighborhoods they’re located in.

Now, council members Andrea L. Boone and Antonio Lewis’ proposal to have Atlanta buy the problematic properties by using what’s known as eminent domain to handle properties that officials say “hinder” enacting neighborhood plans, development projects and revitalization efforts.

Eminent domain is when a government entity takes over private property for public use and compensates the owner.

With the exception of council members Michael Julian Bond and Mary Norwood, the proposal passed the Public Safety and Legal Administration Committee unanimously. Bond and Norwood were absent from the meeting. All of the council members present at the committee voted in favor of the resolution.

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