At least one Augusta City Commissioner has a solution for the problems that plague Azalea Park apartments in south Augusta: force the owners to come live in the complex.
“I wish we could force those landowners to live in those buildings for a month and see how they like it,” District 10 Commissioner John Clarke said.
Clark was making reference to the movie “The Super.” In that film, Joe Pesci played a landlord who was sentenced to live in his own dilapidated building.
The problem at Azalea Park is made worse by the national housing shortage, says another commissioner.
District 6 Commissioner Ben Hasan says he hopes most of the problems at Azalea Park have been resolved as any action by the commission will create more hardship for the tenants who live on the property.
“Rents are going up all over the city. The only reason people are living there is that’s all they can afford. It’s a bad climate to be in,” Hasan said.
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According to Hasan, even people with Section 8 vouchers are finding it difficult to pay escalating rent in the midst of nationwide inflation that hits those below the poverty level the worst.
“I think this is going to be a full-throated conversation that we need to have on Tuesday. We may have to shut it down, but if we do, we need to try and help these people find somewhere to go,” Hasan said.
Clarke agrees with Hasan that the city must find a way to help the residents move to more suitable dwellings if the city has to condemn the property.
The Augusta Commission’s Public Services Committee will receive an update at its next meeting on code enforcement at the complex after a recent fire displaced seven more families at the Azalea Park apartment complex in South Augusta.
In November 2021, the Augusta Commission gave the complex until Dec. 31 to fix all of the problems and requested an update on the matter at the first of the year.
At the time, commissioners were wary of taking further action because, if the city is forced to revoke the company’s business license, all tenants of the 200-unit complex will have to vacate immediately, putting many of them out on the streets.
However, the January commission meetings did not include any updates on Azalea Park, and now Clarke says it is time for the city to act in the wake of yet another fire.
“It’s not just Azalea Park. That one is just the worst, but we have landlords all over the county that just ignore the city codes, and we can’t wait until someone dies to enforce our own codes,” Clarke said. “We need to give a ‘push in the tush’ to these landowners and let them know we aren’t playing.”
The last fire happened on Jan. 18. It is one of three at the troubled complex in the last 18 months, according to Jason DeHart, public information officer with the Augusta Fire Department. This most recent fire appears to have been caused by electrical problem, he added, because it stated inside a wall.
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Georgia Power had to cut the power before firefighters could properly extinguish the January blaze.
The Planning and Zoning Commission placed complex owners Sureste Partners, L.L.C. of Atlanta, on probation in September when code enforcement officials found 23 serious violations at the complex, which is located just off Milledgeville Road at 1814 Fayetteville Dr. According to documents provided by the Planning and Zoning Department, inspectors found 18 broken windows, holes in the walls and ceilings, fire-damaged units, a broken waste line draining into a nearby waterway, a bedbug infestation and an infestation of rats.
The now-retired head of planning and zoning Rob Sherman said in November that the complex has long been a problem and that he personally witnessed a couple living in a flooded apartment.
“Our shoes literally squished around in the carpet, and water was pooled everywhere,” Sherman said.
Sherman said that when he and his staff conducted an inspection on Oct. 20, 2021, they determined that all but five of the earlier violations had been addressed, but in the process, they discovered 16 more, including dried raw sewage on the floor and walls of a vacant unit.
According to Sherman, residents said they were afraid to report problems over fears they would be evicted.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
