After 435th demolition, Montgomery eyes next phase of project addressing home blight

The first phase of a multiyear city project ended with crumbling brick and crumpled metal this past week. 

Montgomery demolished its 435th dilapidated structure, an abandoned home on Mobile Highway, in its ongoing fight against blight in its neighborhoods.

"Over the last five years we've spent $1.2 million and affected somewhere north of 500 structures," said Public Works Director Chris Conway. Though the city either demolished or repaired the majority of the structures, the program motivated some owners to take "proactive" steps to improve their properties before the city had to intervene. 

City leaders have now included $500,000 in next year's proposed budget to address the second phase of the program. In the last two budgets, the city had pledged about $675,000 to rid Montgomery of blight by tearing down crumbling houses.

More:Montgomery has a blight problem, and the state isn't helping

"We came up with a list of about 2,200 properties that needed a second step of investigation," Conway said of his team's work. "We sent inspection teams to all of those, which took about 90 days. From that, we said there were 1,800 structures in the city that are, in fact, vacant, but only 320 of those were needing further action. The other 1,500 were being taken care of or secure."

Not all of the 320 structures will be torn down completely. Some might need a new roof or some superficial repair work. 

"Of those 320, we already know that about 15% are state tax sale properties, so we know there's no caretaker for those," Conway said. "So we'll look at what those 42 need done to them immediately. The other 280 will have an owner, and we'll be working with them on a plan."

Conway said the average demolition costs around $3,000, though structures with asbestos concerns can cost more. Montgomery's program is solely focused on residential structures, which Conway believes gives the city more "bang for their buck" over focusing on large, commercial properties.

"One hotel will be half a million, a quarter of a million to do," he said. "If you're in a neighborhood ,and you have a house that is in disrepair, that's affecting you as a neighbor. That's where we feel like we can really help you out as a resident of Montgomery."

In 2018, Montgomery began using new mapping technology to help identify blighted structures. By pulling in data from state and local resources, city workers could identify possibly vacant houses. 

A June 2018 analysis by the Montgomery Advertiser found that more than 91% owners of the razed homes at that time were located in Alabama, with almost 150 of the more than 180 owners located within Montgomery city limits.

More:Data analysis: Who owns the homes demolished by the city of Montgomery?

Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Melissa Brown at 334-240-0132 or mabrown@gannett.com.