Spurred by a recent blaze that consumed an abandoned house on 7th Street, the City of Quincy is moving to expedite its review process for abandoned and dangerous dwellings in the city.
The review process lets the city determine whether building owners should be allowed to voluntarily bring their buildings into compliance or if the city should take legal action to tear down the structures.
Quincy Mayor Angela Sapp, City Manager Jack McLean and city department heads convened an emergency meeting last Monday to discuss ways to deal with dangerous abandoned buildings. Often, such structures are used for illegal activities like drug distribution and prostitution and, thus, contribute to community blight and crime, Quincy Police Chief Glenn Sapp said in statement released earlier this week.
City Manager Jack McLean concurred, saying, “These dangerous abandoned dwellings are both a hazard to our neighborhoods’ safety and cause the surrounding responsible homeowners’ property values to decline.”
The matter is up for further discussion and possible ordinance changes at the City of Quincy’s next regular city commission meeting, 6 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 14 at Quincy City Hall.
For more information on this and other code enforcement issues, call Quincy Building and Planning Director Bernard Piawah at (850) 618-1886.
By Brian Dekle
editor@prioritynews.net