A blighted property ordinance was a main topic at Tuesday’s Daviess County Commissioners Meeting.
Natalie Smith of the WestGate Tech Park Board was at the meeting explaining that WestGate is concerned about the impact that three blighted and highly visible derelict properties are having on the $100 million investment at the Tech Park, and the image they give to potential economic investors coming into Daviess County.
Smith told the Commissioners that in 2010, then County Attorney Jeff Hayes had sent a letter from the Commissioner asking the property owners to clean up their properties, but nothing had been done. Commissioner Tom McCracken questioned what happens if the property owner can’t afford to clean up and if there had been an attempt to work out a purchase agreement with the property owners. The owner of one of the properties recently passed away and her son was present at Tuesday’s meeting and said he and his siblings would be willing to sell their property.
Commissioner Nathan Gabhart told Smith that he was interested in the concept of a blighted property, or Unsafe Building ordinance, but implementation was the problem. Gabhart said an ordinance would affect the whole county and not just the WestGate area. Gabhart also said that the Commissioners are still working on problems with the county’s zoning ordinance, and the blighted buildings in the WestGate area was not a top issue right now. After the discussion, the Commissioners did not kill the ordinance, but tabled it pending purchase discussions between WestGate and the current owners.