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Oak Ridge, AC added to state blight elimination program; loans of up to $25K per home

Posted at 11:22 pm July 11, 2016
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

TDHA Perrey Oak Ridge Gooch Blight Elimination Program July 11 2016

Oak Ridge and Anderson County have been added to a state blight elimination program that could allow the city to accelerate its efforts to remove blighted and abandoned homes and replace them with new affordable housing, or possibly green space. Ralph Perrey, left, executive director of the Tennessee Housing Development Agency, makes the announcement in Oak Ridge on Monday, July 11, 2016. Also pictured is Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Oak Ridge and Anderson County have been added to a state blight elimination program that could allow the city to accelerate its efforts to remove blighted and abandoned homes and replace them with new affordable housing, or possibly green space. Loans of up to $25,000 per home are available.

The Blight Elimination Program allows qualified nonprofits and land banks, like the one in Oak Ridge, to apply for loans of up to $25,000 to acquire blighted, abandoned homes, demolish them, turn the property into green space, and maintain the vacant lots. The “greened” lots can then be turned into new affordable housing or converted into other uses meant to stabilize neighborhoods, with the uses approved by the Tennessee Housing Development Agency.

The $25,000 per demolition will be fronted by the THDA. The work could start with the Oak Ridge Land Bank Corporation, THDA Executive Director Ralph M. Perrey said during a Monday afternoon press conference in Oak Ridge. The press conference also included Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson, Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch, and Katie Moore, East Tennessee THDA representative.

The Blight Elimination Program has $10 million in funding available in Tennessee on a first-come, first-served basis. Much of it is likely to be used in Memphis in Shelby County, one of six other counties previously approved for the Blight Elimination Program, Perrey said.

But Memphis isn’t the only place that needs help, he said.

“I think a fair amount of that can be put to work here,” Perrey said in Oak Ridge on Monday. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, Government, Oak Ridge, State, Top Stories Tagged With: affordable housing, Anderson County, BEP, blight elimination, Blight Elimination Program, blighted home, Community Development Block Grant, demolition, Hardest Hit Fund, HHF, Kathryn Baldwin, Katie Moore, Manhattan District Overlay, Manhattan Project, Mark Watson, MDO, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge Land Bank Corporation, Ralph Perrey, Tennessee Housing Development Agency, THDA, U.S. Treasury, Warren Gooch, World War II

Council approves expansion of residential rental inspection district

Posted at 5:22 pm August 13, 2013
By John Huotari 4 Comments

Rental Property in Manhattan District Overlay

Rental properties in the Manhattan District Overlay could be registered and regularly inspected under a proposal unanimously approved in the first of two readings by the Oak Ridge City Council on Monday. The rental properties are pictured in red above. (Image courtesy of Oak Ridge city staff)

The ordinance was already on the books, and on Monday, city officials agreed to expand the area where inspections of rental homes are allowed to include most of the center of the city.

The expanded residential inspection district, which had originally applied to the Highland View Redevelopment Area, could include about 1,700 rental units.

The Oak Ridge City Council unanimously endorsed the expansion during a Monday night meeting. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Business, Government, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Top Stories Tagged With: Burnham Woods, Highland View, Highland View Redevelopment Area, inspections, Manhattan District Overlay, Mark Watson, MDO, Oak Ridge City Council, Oak Ridge Fire Department, ordinance, rental homes, rental inspection, rental units, residential rental inspection district, Scarboro, Woodland

Council considers electronic signs, land bank, rental inspections

Posted at 5:29 pm August 11, 2013
By John Huotari 4 Comments

Oak Ridge City Council

The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday will consider new regulations for electronic signs, expanding the city’s residential rental inspection district, and creating the first-ever land bank in Tennessee.

Oak Ridge officials could prohibit animated electronic signs, expand the city’s residential rental inspection district to include about 1,700 homes, and officially set up an Oak Ridge Land Bank Corp. during a Monday night meeting.

The Oak Ridge City Council will also consider approving contracts with economic development consultant Ray Evans and state lobbyist Bill Nolan, and terminating the lease on the building that once housed the Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic on Badger Road. Now partially empty, the split-level two-story building still houses the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association, and city officials said they haven’t decided what to do with it yet.

The Monday night City Council meeting starts at 7 p.m. in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Courtroom. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Business, Government, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Top Stories Tagged With: Badger Road, Bill Nolan, electronic sign ordinance, electronic signs, Highland View, Highland View Redevelopment Area, Kathryn Baldwin, land bank, Manhattan District Overlay, MDO, Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce, Oak Ridge City Council, Oak Ridge Community Development, Oak Ridge Land Bank Corp., Oak Ridge Municipal Building Courtroom, Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission, Ray Evans, Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, rental units, residential rental inspection, sign industry

Oak Ridge officials reconsider residential rental inspections

Posted at 12:36 pm July 27, 2013
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Rental Property in Manhattan District Overlay

Rental properties in the Manhattan District Overlay could be registered and regularly inspected under a proposal being considered by Oak Ridge officials. The rental properties are pictured in red above. (Image courtesy of Oak Ridge city staff)

Oak Ridge officials are reconsidering a proposal that would allow them to inspect rental homes as part of a program to combat property blight and substandard housing.

It’s been considered before and the Oak Ridge City Council has approved an ordinance establishing the program, but it’s never been implemented, Oak Ridge Community Development Director Kathryn Baldwin said Monday.

Now, the city staff has proposed expanding the program from the Highland View neighborhood to the larger Manhattan District Overlay, which includes Highland View and a swath of properties north of Oak Ridge Turnpike from East Drive in east Oak Ridge to Bryn Mawr Circle in west Oak Ridge. The MDO also includes properties in the Woodland, Scarboro, and Burnham Woods neighborhoods. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Government, Oak Ridge, Top Stories Tagged With: blight, Chuck Hope, Highland View, housing, inspections, Kathryn Baldwin, Manhattan District Overlay, Manhattan Project, MDO, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge City Council, Oak Ridge Community Development, property blight, registration, rental homes, rental inspections, rental unit registrations, residential rental dwelling unit inspection ordinance, structural inspections, substandard housing, temporary dwelling units, Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, Trina Baughn, World War II

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