The Augusta Public Services Committee agreed to give the owners of Azalea Park apartments two more weeks to address publicly the health and safety issues at the troubled apartment complex; however, several commissioners voiced their concerns over the lengthy process to get the dwellings up to code.
At the Jan.25 meeting, both District 4 Commissioner Alvin Mason and District 10 Commissioner John Clarke expressed their exasperation at the amount of time it has taken to get the owners of the property, Sureste Partners LLC, based out of Atlanta, to act on the numerous citations recorded over the past year,
“We’ve been dealing with this issue for more than a minute. I feel like we have been kicking the can down the road, and we’re still doing it,” Mason said.
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Clarke went a step further, citing the recent damage at the complex from the Jan. 18 fire as well as sewage issues in the apartment units, which are located at 1814 Fayetteville Drive, as a reason for the commission to take more immediate action.
“What is it going to take? Is it going to take a tragedy before this government engages in some meaningful action?” Clarke asked Planning and Development Interim Director Carla Delaney, who was responding to commissioner’s questions on behalf of the department.
Delaney admitted that there were still 53 violations pending against the complex but said that most of the violations were related to the outside of the buildings and did not constitute any type of a public health issue.
Under more scrutiny from the committee, Delaney admitted that the city can only inspect vacant units or do a “spot check” if it is allowed by the renter; therefore, no real widespread inspection of the property has taken place since the Dec. 31, 2021 deadline.
“We did complete an inspection on Jan. 7, but it was mainly related to issues we discovered outdoors…we did not go into any of the units,” Delaney told commissioners.
Representatives of Sureste Partners LLC were not at the meeting to address the long-standing issues at the complex, which have included bedbug and rat infestations, raw sewage in apartments, flooding and, of course, fire damage that left seven families displaced on Jan. 18.
According to Delaney, her department was made aware that the most recent fire was found to be within the walls of the apartment complex, but absent an official report by the fire department, planning and development has no jurisdiction to inspect suspected fire code issues.
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Many commissioners including Clarke, Mason and District 6 Commissioner Ben Hasan have stated before that while they are committed to preserving public safety, they are sensitive to the fact that the people living in Azalea Park cannot just be turned out into the street.
“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.
Mason concluded that since the owners of the complex participate in the Section 8 program, which is funded by the federal government, local governments have the ability to force them to answer to allegations of neglect.
“This is not a knock on code enforcement, but we have to hold people accountable, especially if they are receiving funds. If they are receiving funds when they have no repercussions, then they will continue to do the same things they have always done and feel like they will get away with it,” Mason said.
The matter is scheduled to be addressed again at the Feb. 8 meeting of the Public Services Committee.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
