Earlier this week, City Councilwoman Luvertha August requested an update on the city’s plan for adjudicated properties.
Since 2014, a large number of the tracts have been handled by the Lake Charles North Redevelopment Authority through the Lot Next Door program. The initiative has been used in both New Orleans and East Baton Rouge and focuses on returning to use abandoned or adjudicated properties.
August said that when the program was in its early stages, the council would receive updates from LCNRA members on a regular basis. She said that over the last few months, the updates have been less frequent.
August said she was also curious about the process neighbors next to the adjudicated properties have to undergo to take ownership of the lots.
“People who are living next door to what has become adjudicated property and they cannot buy it, they have to wait until an auction and it’s bid on, and that may take months,” she said.
August said the ownership system should be simplified because without the purchasers “the property is just sitting there.”
Mike Huber, city planning director, said the city is using CivicSource — an online auction marketplace for adjudicated properties — to help clear some of the titles on the lots.
“They have a program that’s very similar to Lot Next Door and they will give first choice to the person that has been next to it,” Huber said.
Adjudicated properties are land placed in state or local governmental hands because the local property taxes haven’t been paid. The Lot Next Door program requires a purchaser to own property that shares a common boundary with the former adjudicated property. And the purchaser cannot owe any taxes or liens on any property in Calcasieu Parish.
City Administrator John Cardone said the city is meeting with CivicSource officials to address other concerns and issues associated with the lots. He said more information should be available on the process in the coming weeks.
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