Royston City Council Schedules Work Session on Blighted Property Ordinance

The Royston City Council and Mayor Keith Turman plan to meet for a special work session next month to further develop a blighted property ordinance.

At their July City Council meeting, Councilman Fletcher Hodges called for the work session saying the City has delayed creating and implementing a blighted property ordinance long enough.

Hodges then motioned to hold the work session the second week of August.

At their May City Council meeting Main Street Director Michael Crump read a letter from DDA Chairperson Marjorie Moore asking the council to begin work on a blighted property ordinance that would force absentee building owners downtown to clean up and fix up their properties.

In the letter Crump read, Moore pointed out that the City has been talking about a blighted property ordinance for over a year and the abandoned buildings are an eyesore and deterrent to growing the downtown area.

Crump also held up copies of a Blighted Property ordinance and a Vacant Building Registry from the City of Cornelia as an example of what Royston could enact.

Hodges said he believes those documents provide a good framework for the Royston Council to begin work on its own blighted property ordinance.

After hearing from Hodges, the Council agreed to hold a work session next month and set Tuesday, August 6 at 5:30p as the date for that work session.