The Buchanan City Commission is considering a new ordinance intended to reduce the number of vacant or underused buildings in the community.
City Manager Tony McGhee tells us when buildings remain unused for extended periods of time, they can become magnets for vandalism, nuisance activity, and property maintenance issues. He says in a city like Buchanan, building owners who sit on such properties without developing them are failing to explore other opportunities.
“You see a lot of the buildings, they were historically less valuable and they were just cheap to buy for cold storage for people or to sit on in a speculative manner waiting for redevelopment to happen,” McGhee said. “What this new ordinance will do, it recognizes the impact that doing that has on the community.”
McGhee says the new ordinance would create a fee charged to the owners of buildings who choose not to activate the structures.
“If it’s adopted, what it’ll come with is basically what equates to an impact fee if somebody chooses to maintain a building and not activate it. If they choose to go to an activation plan or there’s some other hardship reasons we have not to have to register it as a vacant, unutilized building, they’ll have that option. But really what this does is it creates a tool for us to work with some of these property owners here in the community to reactivate their buildings and really make them beneficial for the community.”
If approved, current building owners would not be grandfathered into the new rule. McGhee told us more about the activation plans some owners could pursue.
“Our approach to government here in Buchanan is not heavy-handed. If somebody’s had that building and been using it or not using it — that’s why we did the ordinance for a long period of time — we’ll work with them to create an activation plan. As long as they’re working to follow that, they won’t have to pay that fee for a vacant or underutilized building.”
The ordinance establishes a process for identifying and registering vacant or underutilized buildings, ensuring they’re properly maintained and secured while encouraging their return to productive use.
“Underutilized means it’s not being used for its intended use per the zoning designation for that area.”
The ordinance also discourages the long-term warehousing of commercial space for storage purposes. McGhee says many cities around the state are considering such moves.
The city commission must still hold second and third readings of the ordinance before it’s approved.
