A newly formed board within the city of Poplar Bluff is setting its sights to clean up blighted properties in the area.
The Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority held its first meeting Tuesday morning to organize the board, select officers and discuss the purpose of the group.
“This board was approved by the voters of Poplar Bluff in the early 1970s and nothing ever became of it,” City Planner Matt Winters said. “The citizens at that time thought it was a worthwhile cause to take on so hopefully by starting and with the first board we can make some progress and clean up some areas.”
The five-person board of Chair Wayne McSpadden, Vice Chairman Brock Littles, Secretary/Treasurer Chance Whitehead, Bob MacDonald and Bill Bach began their first official meeting by drawing terms of office once officers were elected.
After deciding to strike regular meetings, the board agreed to hold special meetings, with appropriate notice, to address properties identified. An annual meeting was also approved to be held at 10 a.m. the second Tuesday in January.
The LCRA topic resurfaced when Municipal Utilities General Manager Bill Bach was installing a water line at 805 E. Pine Street.
Bach was looking for an avenue to clean up the former gas station, which has been condemned by the city building inspector.
Winters said he began researching the LCRA board and what it did.
“It is an interesting tool we can use to get rid of some derelict properties and clean up some areas of town that need to be cleaned up,” Winter said.
The abandoned gas station will become the boards first focus.
To begin, Winters and City Manager Mark Massingham plan to meet with the county collector to find out the process of taking possession of the property and then “will go from there.”
The blighted property is about $38,000 behind in property taxes.
Winters said he expects a special meeting of the board to be held “soon” regarding the gas station property.
The next step, according to Winters, would be to draft a development plan for the board to look over. This plan would include a brief description of the property, location, zoning type and goals for the property.
Once approved by the LCRA board, the plan would then be passed to planning and zoning to approve and finally the city council before any action can take place.
While the newly formed board does not have a budget for potential projects, the cleanup of the gas station property is partially covered through a petroleum storage tank insurance fund.
With a little less than $1 million in the fund, Winters said the work that is not eligible could hopefully be performed by the street department or Municipal Utilities.
“As the board grows and goes through projects, hopefully there is money from one project to spend on the next project,” Winters added.
While still in the planning stages of how processes will work, Winters sees potential properties coming before the board in a couple different ways.
One example that has been seen in the past is citizens sometimes call City Hall and ask the city to take a property, but Winters said no interest was shown before the LCRA.
Another option from the planning area purpose would be for Winters to suggest areas he notices which need focus.
“I see those two options to start with, but there may be other ways a project will get brought to this board,” he said.