Jax resident proposes property confiscation to deal with vacancy crisis

One of the major issues in Jacksonville is vacant properties, stemming from the foreclosure crisis and other issues. Estimates say about 30,000 such properties dot the various neighborhoods in Jacksonville.

Even in a time where we’ve seen equity markets surge to record numbers, the struggle is real … even in “good neighborhood[s],” according to one recent transplant.

Mary Lou Bogden, who wrote Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry last week, moved to Jacksonville from Northern Virginia.

“We like our neighborhood which is less than two miles from Queens Harbor – so it’s a good area of Jacksonville.”

What shocked her, even in a “good area,” was the “number of vacant/abandoned properties.”

“In our neighborhood alone we know of at least five properties that have been vacant/abandoned for over 3 years. At least three of the properties have the roofs tarped and notices on the door that the properties are abandoned.”

Bogden proposed a measure that “when a home is vacant/abandoned for over a year that a notice is sent to the owner or bank (if appropriate)” saying if the house isn’t “sold within a year” that the home becomes the property of the city.

“The city would then auction the home with the stipulation that the buyer would have to bring the property up to the standards of the community HOA (if applicable) and that the buyer would have to live in the property for at least one year.

“A measure such as this,” Bogden said, “could provide homes at a reasonable cost for qualifying families, [and] raise values” of property in the neighborhoods.

City officials, including the former Blight Committee (now the “NICE” Committee) have wrestled with these issues for some time.

Councilman Bill Gulliford has been pushing for a “land bank” to dispose of properties that have been vacant or abandoned, or have been subject of foreclosure proceedings stalled out by banks.

What this letter suggests is that the “blight” crisis the land bank proposal seeks to address also affects “nice neighborhoods” as much as those showing more wear.