MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — After five years, the city of Milledgeville is taking a crumbling downtown building to court.
The roof of the building on 107 and 225 South Wayne Street collapsed almost five years ago. When fences went up to keep the public safe, it ended up blocking several parking spots including some for disabled drivers. It also blocks the sidewalk and access to other businesses.
After several formal requests to clean it up, the City of Milledgeville is taking the situation to court.
“This really is the last resort,” says City attorney Jimmy Jordan.
Jordan says problems began five years ago when building owner, Larry Simmons, claimed the city's stormwater problems caused his roof to cave in.
“Engineers, the public works department looked into that. That was not the case,” Jordan says.
The city said the building was unsafe and blocked it off.
Then they started talking to Simmons and his lawyer about the cleanup.
“Formally reached out to him on at least three occasions with letters citing code violations and the seriousness of the public safety concern,” Jordan explains.
He says eventually they had to put up fencing to protect people from the crumbling facade when Simmons wouldn't take action.
Two years ago, they reached a mediation agreement.
Jordan says they explained to Simmons that it was his responsibility to clean up the dilapidated building. The mediation reached an agreement that the city would provide Simmons access to the city’s revolving loan fund.
“That is created particularly for downtown improvements,” Jordan explains. “He had to make an application. He began the application process and then, for whatever reason, stopped. There was no communication. Obviously, the property owner did not follow through.”
The Ript Zone shop owner CJ Jameson has a business just down the street. He says it keeps folks away.
“They’ve got it all blocked off and it’s clogging up the whole area there in front of it,” Jameson explains. “They hit the barriers and just walk the other way."
Miles of Styles owner Heidi Martin says it's getting harder to stay open. She says she’s had to reduce the amount of days she’s open due to reduced traffic.
She says something must be done.
“All the businesses on South Wayne would benefit from that. It impacts this area greatly. It's a small college town. It needs to be resolved; it’s gone of for far too long, Martin says.
So what is the last resort for the city?
Filing for a nuisance abatement in municipal court. Meaning: the city wants to clean the mess up themselves. and later possibly apply to foreclose the building to pay back the cleanup costs .
“It's imperative from the city standpoint that this situation not go on any longer than it already has,” Jordan says.
We were unable to reach Simmons and his business All Star Properties LLC for comment.
Jordan says the court date is set for Wednesday, June 7. He says they estimate costs to cleanup and reinforce the building will be around $200,000.