Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center owner ordered to clean up portion of decaying property

Cobb County government has sent word late this afternoon that a remediation order has been issued for the owners of the Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center that’s long been the subject of community efforts to get cleaned up.

That means that NAI Brannen Goddard, an Atlanta-based real estate agency that owns the 16-acre site at 2692 Sandy Plains Road, has to make some immediate improvements to the property (detailed below), which includes some existing businesses.

Mostly, it’s empty commercial space, including a former bowlling alley, as well as a cemetery, that’s been deteriorating for nearly a couple decades.

Citizens have complained of criminal and even gang activity, especially around the bowling alley area. Cobb commissioners in 2017 adopted a blight ordinance. That would impose additional taxes on property identified as blighted and deemed uninhabitable and unsafe if remediation actions to improve it weren’t conducted.

That’s where this case, the first test of that ordinance that’s reached the court stage, stands now.

Under the remediation order issued in Cobb Magistrate Court, NAI Brannen Goddard must do the following to and around the bowling alley building:

• install and maintain adequate lighting on all sides of the building within 15 days of the order;
• install and maintain a camera security system within 15 days;
• post “No loitering allowed” and “You are being video recorded” signs in conspicuous and prominent locations within 15 days of the court order;
• provide an engineer’s report detailing the proper repairs required to correct the safety & structural issues created by the canopy’s removal within 30 days of the court order;
• complete the repairs in the engineer’s report;
• have a representative or project manager visit the site at least once per week to inspect for illegal activity & property damage and correct issues within 48 hours;
• remove litter within 48 hours;
• promptly respond to development inspections or code enforcement issues;
• install fencing around the perimeter of the building to prevent passage onto the property.

Per the Cobb government information, the building doesn’t have to be demolished (as some in the community have wanted). But “non-compliance with the order will result in additional tax remaining on the property until the remediation is complete.”

The order is only for the bowling alley area, not for the rest of the Sprayberry Crossing property.

If additional taxes are levied, they would be seven times the county general fund millage rate value of their properties. According to a Cobb Community Development Agency estimate announced at a community meeting in March, that total would come to around $17,000. That figure prompted many citizens at the meeting to groan with dismay.

The order comes as commissioners were scheduled to designate several blighted properties for incentivized redevelopment on Tuesday, including the Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center (No. 15 on the map). It’s been on previous lists.

Some nearby residents, working through the Sprayberry Crossing Action group, also have been preparing possible civil action against NAI Brannen Goddard. A series of meetings, starting Thursday, has been scheduled for citizens interested in filing a claim against the property owner.

The Cobb government statement included this response from commissioner JoAnn Birrell, who represents the area:

“I’m pleased with the court’s decision in designating this property as blighted although I would have preferred the building be demolished. However, I’m glad to know the court heard the county’s and the citizen’s concerns. The county is doing everything within its ability under the code to address the concerns related to this property and will continue to monitor conditions.”

Here’s what Joe Glancy, organizer of the Sprayberry Action group, posted after hearing the news:

“It’s not enough.

“But a word of warning to Mitchell Brannen, Sam Hale, Bo Brown and the other owners of that blighted shopping center – summer with all its wonderful distractions is coming to a close, and you will have our full attention in the coming months.”

 

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