Published: July 06, 2007 08:52 am      

New law may bring more housing to Meridian neighborhoods

by Georgia E. Frye

gfrye@themeridianstar.com

A new state law that would allow cities and counties to sell or lease abandoned properties to private developers could help attract new housing to some of Meridian's oldest neighborhoods.

The law, which took effect on July 1, also affects the state's 82 counties. Before the new law, cities and counties could only give land for less than fair market value to churches and nonprofits.

Meridian Mayor John Robert Smith said Thursday in his semimonthly press conference that the city wants to be able to transfer abandoned property to developers who will in most cases put in low to moderate income housing.

"In anticipation of this, we have had the city attorneys working on a number of properties and working with developers who want to acquire those properties to build homes to our requirements, and these are nice small homes," Smith said. "We'll bring that to council over the coming months as those titles clear."

Smith also said he will ask the city council to declare some city-owned property as surplus to clear the way for nice quality, affordable homes.

"The good thing is it will give people who have never had a chance at home ownership an opportunity," he said.

Smith said the older, historic parts of Meridian around Kate Griffin Junior High School, where the city already owns some property, and primarily on the east side of town in Wards 2, 4 and 5.

Under previous law, selling blighted property was difficult, and interested developers had no guarantee they would be the winning bid. Local governments took the average value of three appraisals and advertised the sale in the newspaper.

The new law also allows for any liens against the property to be forgiven.

Mayor Smith also announced that he has been named to the advisory board of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. His term will last as long as he is in office.

Smith said Meridian is among the smallest cities to be a member of the conference. The U.S. Conference of Mayors is a nonpartisan organization made up of the nation's 1,139 U.S. cities with a population of 30,000 or more.

He said the group meets to discuss best practices in their cities concerning crime, housing and transportation. Smith said he also focuses on issues concerning the arts.



— The Associated Press contributed to this report