The Cobb Community Development Department has sent a notice to the owners of the Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center demanding it address conditions at the decaying retail property that may run afoul of the county’s new “blight tax” provision.
The letter, delivered Thursday to Brannen Goddard, an Atlanta commercial real estate agency representing Sprayberry Crossing Partnership (PDF here), said the owners have 30 days to provide a “reasonable” plan to make improvements to the shopping center, located at the southeast corner of Sandy Plains Road and East Piedmont Road.
Sprayberry Crossing has long been the subject of complaints from nearby residents. Although several small businesses operate there, most of the shopping center is vacant and has been in deteriorating conditions for years.
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The community development office conducted an inspection of the property in late January and concluded that Sprayberry Crossing met three of the conditions for designation as a blighted property: having an uninhabitable, unsafe or unsound structure; being conducive to “ill health” to those in close proximity to the property; and being the subject of repeated reports of illegal activity on the premises.
The letter included photographs from the inspection showing boarded-up windows and holes in the structures and a list of 28 reports of criminal incidents dating back to 2014.
In the letter, written by Cobb community development director Dana Johnson, the findings of the inspection include evidence of gang activity near the former bowling alley at the back of the property, no proper storm drainage provisions, vandalized mechanical equipment, utility lines laying across the parking lot and signs of repeated break-ins.
Last July the Cobb Board of Commissioners approved a code amendment called the Community Improvement Tax Incentive Program, which allows for the county to set forth several criteria for determining a blighted property. It can then conduct inspections of run-down businesses and rental properties and prompt repairs. Ultimately, the county could impose a fine of seven times the current millage rate for violators.
Blighted properties that meet compliance after that would be eligible for a millage rate reduction for up to two years.
Joe Glancy, creator of the Sprayberry Crossing Action Facebook group that’s been pushing for a solution, wrote that while the letter from the county represents “a victory for our community and another step in the right direction. . . . I’m sure most of you also know, this is hardly the end.”
The citizens’ group has been frustrated by what it has said is a lack of cooperation from the property owners. Glancy urged his group to “to turn up the heat on the ownership group and county to move this process forward.”
The group has scheduled a community meeting on March 21 at Sprayberry High School.
We’re getting in touch with the property owner and will post a response if and when we get it.
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