Tax Commissioner and Chairman of the Augusta Land Bank Chris Johnson joined Augusta Housing and Community Development Department Director Hawthorne Welcher on June 21 to give residents of the Sand Hills neighborhood an update on city efforts to revitalize the historic area.
Around 65 residents attended the event held at the Sand Hills Community Center. Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson, District 3 Commissioner Catherine McKnight and District 7 Commissioner Sean Frantom were also on hand for the event.
Sand Hills, a historically Black neighborhood originally known as Elizabethtown, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. The neighborhood is located between Surrey Center and the Augusta Country Club and extends all the way to Augusta University.
Quite a few dilapidated buildings have already been razed by private developers, according to Johnson, and the Land Bank is also reviewing blighted structures that might be saved and turned into “revenue generating” structures instead of facing a wrecking ball.
“If the bones of the house are good enough to remodel, then that is what we want to do,” Chris Johnson said.
The city granted the Land Bank $1 million in American Rescue Plan funding, and the bank has already allocated $170,000 to demolish structures that are beyond saving.
A perfect scenario, according to Johnson, is for the Land Bank to acquire land and then sell it to the Development Department at a cheap price to erect affordable housing.
Welcher, whose department aided homeowners with mortgage assistance during COVID says the trick is building quality homes and structuring the financing so that the home is not out of most people’s reach.
“People can’t spend most or all of their paycheck on a mortgage payment, so we want to make sure that the family that owns the house can afford to pay the bill,” Welcher said.
One thing that has been a major hindrance in the past is that some landowners have not paid property tax for years, incurring taxes, interest and associated fees that often add up to more money than the property is worth.
Most potential developers shy away from buying land containing a blighted building that will have to be razed and assuming a lien that has to be paid off as well. According to Johnson, the state has altered the rules to help land banks with the problem.
“These properties are underwater, but the state now gives land banks the power to extinguish those taxes and, in some instances, eliminate some of the fees as well,” Johnson said.
Audry Jones-Wood, a life-long resident, says that overall, she is pleased with the city’s master plan and thinks that the city should install signage singling out some of the historic areas and homes.
“A picture is worth a thousand words and I am waiting for signs to go up identifying different points in the neighborhood,” Jones-Wood said.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Investigative Reporter and Editorial Page Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
