City Council - Special Meeting

Where Steve at over here too. Mr. Clerk, if you would call the role, please. Present. Mayor Prom and Dr. and District Five. Alderwoman Dr. Estella Edward Shebass, present. Chairman, in district four, alderman Nick Palumbo,

present. Vice Chair in district three, Alderwoman Linda Wilder Bryant. Ready? Let's go. Post one alderwoman Carolyn H. Bell present. Post two alderwoman Alicia Miller Blakeley present. District one alderwoman Bernetta B. Lane Lenir present. District two alderman Dietrich Leget and District 6 Alderman Curtis Pertie present. Mr. Mayor you do have a floor.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, you may be seated uh with protocol already being established. We are convening in a special called meeting of the Savannah City Council on today, March the 26, 2026. Uh this is a little unique for us, but this purpose of this meeting uh is to consider a request from city staff to seek superior court approval to purchase six blighted vacant uh uh pro um properties uh in the Ker Brownville community. And so uh I understand that there is a presentation before our public hearing. So, I will um I will defer to the city manager uh city attorney and team uh for the presentation. Uh thank you, mayor and councel. Um we will be hearing from our senior director of uh housing and neighborhood services, Mr. Martin Freddy, um to uh run through a brief presentation um on the properties that will be before public hearing for you tonight. Um Martin, are you ready? Thank you, Mr. Martin Freddy.

So, I think you've already heard it, but we're here basically because we're needing to take these six properties or hoping to take these six properties to Superior Court and we need your approval to do so. Um just to give you an idea this does align this activity aligns with the GPS uh goal two objective one strategy one activity two u I won't read all of those but it's uh everything we do is linked to the GPS uh and uh if you were to give us permission to proceed today to superior court uh it will be the superior court's uh um job to determine whether or not we have met the definition of blight in the state law and to determine whether or not we follow due process. Uh and then they will also it'll be their responsibility to determine how much we would pay for the property uh if we were able to acquire it through eminent domain. U just an overview uh of our planned use of eminent domain in the Kyler Brownsville neighborhood. Uh first of all, we have to meet uh uh three of the five uh bulleted definitions uh or parts of the definition for eminent domain. Uh demonstrating the property is uninhabitable, unsafe, abandoned, or having inadequate provisions for ventilation, light or sanitation. Places of repeated illegal activity which the owner knew about or should have known about. Uh the maintenance of the property below state, county, or municipal property codes uh for at least one year. and prop properties that are conducive to ill health, transmission of disease, infant mortality or crime in the immediate proximity. So, we have to meet three of those uh conditions uh and prove that to the court should we be granted to move forward. Uh the area that we're going to focus on is the area in Ker Brownsville that is south of 37th Street. Uh it's borded to the east by

Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, to the south by Victory Drive, and to the west by Kick Street. uh we've focused on investor, speculator or absentee owned properties uh in this area and properties that have cloudy title. And of course, we're focusing only on vacant and blighted properties, not on occupied properties. Um if the properties acquired through this process, it'll be developed uh with affordable and workforce housing uh per the city's definition of those and uh we'll utilize the Savannah affordable housing fund and the land bank authority to help carry that mission out. Uh just to give you an idea, this is a map of Kyle Brownsville, which you're all familiar with. In the overall neighborhood, there are 160 vacant and bled properties. 94 of those are structures. 66 are lots. And the uh area within the dash lines is that boundaried area, the focus area of this uh current eminent domain activity. In in the northern part of the neighborhood in the early 2000s, we bought 120 properties there, 80 of them using eminent domain. And we've uh uh utilized that property to create opportunities for 63 new homes to be built. Uh 61 new homeowners to move into the neighborhood and to do some parks and recreation activities. Uh right. Something's happening here.

Chrome will launch in 10 hours. Mr. Freddy, what's that, sir? Chrome will relaunch in 10 hours. Steve,

there's a reason why I don't do technology very well. It has to do with my age, I think. Uh but anyways, uh within that focus area south of 37th Street, we've got a priority area and uh you'll see that outlined in the blue hashlines. Uh within that blue hashlined area, there are 53 blighted vacant properties. 47 of them are structures. Uh there's six in colorcoded in black that are the ones that were coming before you today. There's another 33 blighted structures that we are working through. Uh eight of the properties that were bled in that neighborhood have since gone under repair, significant repair, and are making good progress and there's six vacant lots. Um of the properties in the area that we're focusing on, the priority area, 26 of those are investorowned. uh 42 have open code violations and 25 have delinquent taxes. You can see in the bottom left corner part one crimes uh between the fi a five-year period between 2019 and 2024 part one crimes in the focus area. There was 71 part one crimes and 600 part two crimes. Working with the police department and their stats, we're able to develop a heat map that you see in the lower left corner and the kind of red dots that you see are areas uh that's indicative of uh of where the most of that crime act criminal activity is. So that's how come we selected this prior priority area and to begin our focus there. Uh just to give you an idea, this didn't happen overnight. We began working on this in December of 2024. uh began by identifying properties that might fit the definition of blight. Then we began identifying uh uh parties that had an ownership interest in those properties through title research that we had done. Uh we then notified uh property owners or those with interest in properties of our interest in purchasing the property and offering to let them participate in the uh appraisal

process. Um we then secured appraisers from uh independent state certified appraisers. We conferred additionally with code compliance in the police department and then we basically mailed offer letters uh to the property owners saying we have an appraisal we'd be willing to buy the property for this and uh if necessary we'll do so through eminent domain if given permission to do so. Then the seventh item is what we're doing here today to have a a public hearing on this. Uh you can see the notice uh on the far right side that was published in the newspaper four consecutive weeks in a row. And then we've also published or placed notices in front of each property uh over that four four-week period. And that's had to been multiple postings because as soon as we put them down, somebody picks them up and carries them off. So we've just continually going out there to post the property. Uh now I'm going to hit the six specific properties quickly. Uh the first one is 2309 Burough Street. Um and uh you can see where we've got the check mark bullets. You know this is uninhabitable, unsafe, and abandoned. The reasons in red are listed below. Um some of them are it's been determined to be deopdated uninhabitable by code enforcement since 2024. Uh there was a major fire in 2023. You can see there's no roof. There's nothing inside this building. It's completely burned out. Um, so it's been abandoned since uh 2019. No active building permits since 2023. No active electric or water service. And it's uh open and evidence of trespassing. Repeated illegal activity on the property or the owner should have known about that. There's been uh 15 property maintenance ordinance violations that have been issued since 2020. There's still 13 open code violations dating back to 2022. And then proximity to crime. This will

be true of all the slides that we see. There's 414 part one crimes in this target area. And you can see the breakdown between part one and part two crimes. And finally the uh it's conducive to ill health and transmission of disease and uh some of the reasons there that it would be again if we are given permission to proceed to superior court we'll be presenting all this in more detail and the court will determine whether or not we've met this definition or not. Uh some other information at the bottom of the property lists what we could find through the title research and property tax records. Uh this owner appears to have roots in Bluffton South Carolina. The property has sold five times since 2017. And you can see the uh the the appraised value, the tax assessed value of the property is this isn't the appraised value that we got, but this is the assessed value. Uh right across the street from this at 2310 Burough Street. Uh again, you can see I won't run read through all these, but many of them are similar. You can see there's problems with this probably property dating back to 2020. uh and um it's had open code violations, ordinance violations. Uh and again, the owner of this property appears to be located in Bluffton, South Carolina. And uh this property has transferred hands three times since 2014. Right next to this property uh is 2308 Burough Street. Uh again, uninhabitable, unsafe, and abandoned for the reasons listed. Um and um again repeated illegal activity maintained below code levels for at least one year conducive to crime and the ill health component. Again, uh this investor also seems to be located in Bluton, South Carolina. This property has sold four times since 2014.

Uh and uh the next one is a property on Victory Drive, uh 514 West Victory Drive. Uh again you can see the kind of criteria that we've identified that would make it in our opinion eligible for meeting the definition of blight. Uh and uh this property is owned uh we believe by a local group's management group. Uh they acquired the property we believe at a tax sale but they were never able to resolve the title issue. So it's uh been a problem amongst the partnership there and uh our communication with them is that they I don't think they oppose us proceeding with them in a domain on this uh because it might help resolve the title issues and and uh what have you. Uh almost done 2210 Burough Street. Uh again a list of uh problems with this property. You can kind of see the condition. Any of you that have driven out to Kyler Brownsville and down Burough Street pass these properties particularly this one find people sitting on the steps uh people must be going in and out of the building. You see them going in out of the building and you can see the back part of the building that actually somebody caught the building on fire because it was open. It's just a really abandoned in terrible shape. Um again this property uh has sold five times since uh 2014. So these things just seem to keep changing hand. nothing seems to actually happen uh to uh to improve the properties. Uh and the last one is 2308 Florence Street. Uh same general uh information and uh again this one has sold four times since 2014. And both of the the previous property and this property appear to have an ownership interest in Kirkland, Washington according to tax records. Um anyway, that takes us through the six properties. Just a summary of what we were doing here today, giving you an

overview of what our plans are for uh the use of uh eminent domain and property acquisition in the Conor Brownsville neighborhood. Uh presenting information to you about each of the six properties that we're seeking to get your permission to proceed to Superior Court on. uh giving parties following this an opportunity to come up and address you should they want to address you about the properties that they have an interest in and then uh we'll be seeking hopefully from you a resolution that will allow us to proceed to superior court and then another resolution that says if superior court allows us to acquire the property that we can transfer the property to our land bank authority they will work with us uh and and others to remedy the blight and uh get the hand get the property in the hands of somebody that's going to bring it back or do something positive with it as it relates to housing. One interesting thing here, and we've talked to you all about this, but this resolution actually has it in there, is that if any of these properties are heirs property that we bring before you, the resolution that's authorizing us to transfer it to the land bank, the land bank will work with any interested heir to try and get the property back into the heir's hands so they now finally get the property with clear title and can do something. Uh, so that doesn't I don't think there are any heirs properties in this first batch of six. We've got a a distant air relative that reached out about one of them and we'll certainly be talking to her if we're able to get it to see if she has an interest. It was her mama's house and the mom I think has a health condition now that caused her to uh to to not be able to manage the house and they lost it at the tax sale. So, but most of these that we're looking at right now today or all of them are invest properties. But should we come across a property now or in the future that has an heir who's interested in acquiring the property with clear title, we'll work with them on on the on the transaction to helping them to buy the property and find the financing to do something positive with it. Uh if you're uh if we get your

permission to proceed with any of these uh we expect that we'll go to superior court in May of this year uh for the first hearing which is for the court to determine whether or not we've met the definition of light. Uh and then we expect we would go back to superior court in August of this year uh for the court to determine based upon our appraiser and any other appraiser appraisals that are provided what the value of the property is and how much the city would have to pay into the court to get it. When the city pays the money into the court, anybody with an interest in the property can go to the court and claim their share of the money. Um those two hearings are dependent upon superior court. So these are our hopes and goals, but it'll be up to the court to determine when we're able to to do this. When we did this before on Coming Street, it's very interesting. But the Spir Court wanted six five or six different judges to hear those cases so that they all got familiar and an opportunity to address them. So it was good learning experience for them and and for us. Uh September, if everything goes right, uh we would then buy the property, pay the money into the court, buy the property. uh October we would transfer the property to the land bank authority. Uh in December the land bank authority hopefully will have arrived at uh what to do with the property and who's to buy it and what they're to do with it. You know have the plan in place. Uh and then next year we expect that those properties will either be renovated or demolished and and new housing built. So that's kind of our plan schedule. I think that's all I have.

Thank you Martin Mayor. We that concludes our presentation. Thank you, Mr. City Manager. Thank you, Mr. Freddy. Uh, ladies and gentlemen of council, um, we have six items, uh, for public hearing today. 2309 Burrow Street, 2310 Burrow Street, 2308 Burrow Street, 514 West Victory Drive, 2210 Burrow Street, 2308 Florence Street. Uh we will have public hearings and then the council would um uh exercise their pleasure as it relates to the resolutions items number 7 through 12. How we'll take it today is we'll do the first four uh 1 2 3 four and then we have five and six that I understand might be contested. So then we'll we'll take those separately if it's okay with members of council. Um, so I declare this public hearing open for items number 1 through 4. 2309 Burrow Street, 2310 Burrow Street, 2308 Burrow, and 514 West Victory uh, Drive. Uh, Miss Gloria Williams is here from the Kala Brownsville Neighborhood Association. And so, uh, Miss Williams, if you wanted to, uh, give comment on those. Our usual would be three minutes. Um, but since I know you're here for all of them, u I I grant you some grace in that. So glad to have you,

mayor and council, and I will try to be within my three minutes. No, no, you you take it. I mean, again, six times three gives you a minute. Um, Miss Freddy, if you would, uh, if you could drop that the, um, no, the monitor. Yeah, because she was peeking over it. Okay, that was tall enough. Definitely not.

Again, good evening. Uh, thank you for the opportunity. The neighborhood association supports the city's efforts in purchasing these blighted and vacant properties using the imminent domain uh, process. The properties have been um vacant and blighted for many years and they're not no one lives there, okay, who aren't supposed to be there. They really hurt the quality of life for our responsible neighbors and residents. They attract crime and criminal behavior that hurts our neighborhood. They make it harder for the homeowners to borrow money or invest their own money to improve their homes. And it's harder for individuals when their property taxes or property values not taxes but property values to increase which hurt our homeowners when we try to uh preserve our property and actually to grow the value of our biggest asset which is the home. So we are in support and one thing in particular that I liked about this proposal is that will give opportunity for those persons or person who own property and can re reclaim mom and daddy's property so we are able to get it back into the family. So we wholeheartedly support this effort. Thank you. Thank you and thank you for your work many years um in Ker Brownsville. We appreciate it. Go ahead.

I'm done. I just didn't want to walk away. You said Oh, no. Just saying thank you. You're going welcome. All right. Are there any other comments regarding 2309 Burrow Street, 2310 Burrow Street, 2308 Burrow Street, 514 West Victory Drive? Going once. Going twice. Speak now forever. Hold thy peace. Yes, sir. Second. Been uh properly moving to second that we close the public hearings on 2309 Barrow Street, 2310 Barrow Street, 2308 Barrow Street, and 514 West Victory Drive. All in favor indicate by saying I.

I. Opposed? Motion passes. Moving to items 7, 8, 9, and 10. Uh these are resolutions authorizing the city manager to initiate condemnation proceedings to remedy blight through acquisition. And we'll take these one at a time of 2309 Burough Street unless there are any questions from council. Yes, they're just here. They're just here checking out government in action. All right. Yes. Well, yeah. Well, yeah, we had speakers. So, yes, ma'am. Is there a motion regarding 2309 Burough Street?

Mr. Mayor. Yes. I make a motion that we approve the resolution for There's a second. Second. All right. The motion is to authorize city manager to initiate condemnation proceedings to remedy blight through acquisition of 2309 Burrow Street in Kala Brownville neighborhood and subsequent transfer to return the property to reductive residential use as specifically outlined in the description and attach author authorizing resolutions of of this um meeting. All in favor indicate by saying I

opposed. Motion passes. Item number eight. This is a resolution authorizing city manager to initiate accommodation proceedings to remedy blight through acquisition of 2310 Burrow Street in Kala Brownville. Is there a motion? Mr. Mayor. Yes. Move to approve is read on the agenda. Second. Properly moved and seconded. All in favor by indicate by saying I. I. Opposed. Motion passes. Item number nine. Resolution authorizes city manager to initiate combination proceedings to remedy blight through acquisition of 2308 Burough Street in Kala Brownville neighborhood. So moved, sir. Is there a second? Probably moved and seconded. All in favor indicate by saying I.

Opposed? Motion passes. Item number 10, resolution authorizing the city manager to initiate combination proceedings to remedy blight through acquisition of 514 West Victory Drive in Kala Brownville neighborhood and subsequent transfer to return the property to productive residential use and specifically outlined in the description. Is there a motion? So move. Is there a second motion properly moved and seconded? All in favor indicate by saying I

opposed. Motion passes. We've now moved back to the public hearings items number five and six. Number five is a public hearing to initiate combination proceedings to remedy blight through acquisition of real property located at 2210 Burough Street in automatic district 1. And item number six, a public hearing to initiate commendation proceedings to remedy blight through acquisition of real property located at 2308 Florence Street in Almatic District 1. Understand that there is a speaker uh Miss Martin for uh both properties and so we'll we'll grant you uh I guess double the time to make your case for those.

I'll keep it under three as well. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay. Good evening. Yes, my name is Carrie Martin and I am here on behalf of the owner Sunnydale Productions, uh, the record owner of 2210 Burroughs and 2308 Florence Streets. Um, I did submit a letter because obviously time for remarks is limited and as you may have seen, there's a little bit of a story behind these transactions and now the legal proceedings um, underlying this particular property and the clerk of council did confirm receipt of that, but each of you should have a copy. So, if you don't have one, please let me know. Um, my client acquired these properties through foreclosure after loaning $375,000 to an entity owned by Charles and Lena Cells. This was a loan that was never repaid. And so, to be clear, um, Mr. Freddy referenced several transactions, a series of transactions from 2014 in which these properties were never improved. I want to be clear that my client was not a part of that. We were a lender. These were properties that were taken as collateral for a loan. Um, some of you may be familiar with the pending lawsuit involving Charles and Lena Cells, their entities, and more than 60 other defendants, many of whom are Chattam County residents. That case seeks to claw back 64 local real estate transactions, including the transaction that gave rise to Sunnydale's interest in these properties. Um, I see we have a recusal. So I I I believe that's what's happening. But what I would say is for anyone who is familiar with the lawsuit, the prayer um from my client and from myself today is that perhaps your familiarity with the harsh absurdity of that proceeding would animate your empathy um toward my client and any others similar similarly situated. And to be clear, my client recognizes the city's power of imminent domain and respects the city's dual objectives of curing blight and expanding affordable housing

opportunities in our beautiful city, particularly in this neighborhood. Um, in fact, Sunnydale does uh shares that desire for improvement and it was under contract to sell the properties to be rehabilitated when the Liz pendants was unfortunately filed. Um, so with that said, I am here to respectfully entreat this council to extend a temporary forbearance given the extraordinary circumstances or perhaps we can come up with something more creative, but for now a temporary forbearance. Um, the many resident defendants implicated in this litigation are facing multiple layers of hardship. First and most obviously, many like Sunnydale were directly harmed by the cell's loan defaults. some some people lost their life savings. Um and now second, these defendants, including my client Sunnydale, face a lawsuit that threatens to strip away from them the collateral that was supposed to secure and mitigate those very financial losses. And so proceeding with imminent domain at this time adds a third devastating hardship. And that it reduces the just compensation award that the city would otherwise offer. And it eliminates title insurance coverage for many of these defendants, including my client, leaving already harmed parties to litigate entitlement to a depressed condemnation award without the assistance of paid for legal defense. So they would be coming out of pocket in defending themselves in this lawsuit which would of course be devastating. Finally, this lawsuit is um as you can hear complicated. It's been aggressively litigated and it is likely to entangle any condemnation action. Um it is part of a long-running dispute between the cells and this judgment creditor Hartman Media Company. Um, but this time it seems that the local Savanians and our

local real estate market are the collateral damage. And I frankly believe that that is by design. Um, and I think proceeding now would offer tacid approval from the highest levels of our local government of a foreign judgment creditor's bullish and baseless efforts to upend local markets and households. Um, we worry about that. And so with that, honorable mayor and alderman and women, um, and Mr. Freddy, we we beg that you pause on this particular initiative, um, and grant a temporary stay in the n name of fairness and and proceed maybe at a time that would be more favorable.

Thank you. Um, let I I'm going ask the first question. Do you dispute any of the conditions, uninhabitable, unsafe or abandoned property, the repeated illegal activity, the co- violations, or uh conduciveness to crime in proximity to the property? Do you dispute any of those things?

So, I will have to appear in court on these things. I'm reluctant to respond, mayor, but in the interest of transparency, this is a difficult property. There's no doubt. And so I guess my my concern is is that in asking for grace here, that means we're you're asking us to ask the people of Ka Brownsville to continue to live uh in the proximity of these eyes um every single day to have to continue to deal with um the vegetation, the vagrancy, the rodents and and other types of of things that occur there. I mean, you know, this is not just yesterday.

This is not just a year. This is multiple years um of of people that I represented directly as now Alderwoman Lane Lenir represents um who have been asking for a way to address the thing that they don't control. They control their property. This is their life's work, their life's um value within a home. and and so to have that across the street or next door in the neighborhood. Um I mean I think I guess my my question is is that where is you know you got the property that you got but on the end of it you're asking for grace for us but where is the grace for for them?

Your honor that your honor creature of habit um look there are compelling competing interests. There is no doubt about everything you just said. Um and I would simp and so I don't dispute what you've just said. Certainly there is a competing interest um that are their intention. Um what I would simply say is again on the side of my client which I'm here to advocate for is not to negate anything you just said or those real troubles that the neighborhood is facing with these properties. It would simply be a reminder again that my client was not a part of that sort of long period of unimprovement. And in fact, as soon as they foreclosed, they had it under contract to sell these properties. Um, and both contracts fell through because of just the horrible timing of that list pendance, but the purchaser um was a group that was coming in to rehab um that property. And it's unfortunate where we are. I think it's just a perfect storm, but it would have devastating effects um to my client. So, I I leave it in your capable hands.

And and and finally, just uh and so the owners of this property are from Sunnydale, California. No, the entity name is Sunnydale. One member, there's two members of that company, just two two men. Um one Julian Buick is lives in Bluff, South Carolina. Okay, thank you. Uh, Alderwoman Laneir, I mean, sorry, Alderwoman Wild Brian. Mr. Mayor, this question is for our attorney. If you Yeah,

this question is for our attorney. And so, um, she is evidently in her company been involved in some sort of scam. All right? And so, you want us to give you more grace than we give the actual citizens who live here. The forbearance means that you want us to pause what we're doing so that you can take care of your lenders fees. I I I can't see how I could sit here and say that we're going to give you more grace and you've had the time than the people who actually have to live in these conditions. It has changed the quality of life with with child molestation in these houses and crime and rodents and all the things that come with those type of situations. And so I just want to be clear that your ask is that we stall so that you can get your ducks in a row. Is that Can you just put it in layman's turn? That's what I'm hearing when you say forbearance. You want us to stop so that your people that you represent can get their ducks in a row so that they can do what they need to do with the property that they purchase.

No, I would disagree with that characterization. Oh, that's why I'm asking.

Yes. Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity to clarify. My client did not purchase this property. They lent money. They were stiffed that money and then they foreclosed, which was, you know, they're right. It was taken as collateral. Um, it's not a failure of my client to have their proverbial ducks in a row. Um, and I appreciate you calling attention to that in case I've not been clear. My client is hamstrung by a first layer a a scammer, second layer, a very bullish litigant who has come after not not just my client, but as I said, 64 other residents of this community, including a member of your council. And so, um, I don't think that my client has failed to get their ducks in a row. and I don't know what they can do to get their ducks in a row except to prevail in this lawsuit we are seeking um prompt intervention from the courts of course but there's only so much we can do on that but to your point there are serious competing interests and you've articulated those well nobody um is here to belittle those interests or deny them or dispute them in any way I want to be very clear about that

well it's just that they're competing interests.

Well, again, uh your client didn't have their ducks in a row and so now you come before us to ask us for something that we can't really give uh our residents if they fail to uh pay taxes then that property is taken from them. We can't stall that and that's when they become part of imminent domain. And so for you uh I mean for you to come and say that we need to pause what we're doing until u a suit or whatever the end of whatever the process that you want is really unfair and u and while it's a public hearing and you get to um advocate for your client, we have to advocate for the citizens in this city. And to do that would open up a a big can of worms. What would be the president presidents of that? Mr. Bates,

I'm sorry. I'm not sure I understand your question. Well, what she's asking is something different that I have never been familiar with. And so, she wants us to stop, pause, whatever we do, give her forbearance, and then the people who've lost this property, they have not been given an opportunity for us to say, "Hold up." That is the point that I'm making. She's just simply asking that y'all not approve the resolution. and she just wants you to not go forward with us asking the court for imminent domain powers to prevent this going forward. That's what she wants to do at this time. I know exactly that's what she wanted to do and I'm just in exactly that that's not what I want to do. Thank you attorney just to for clarification she would also have the opportunity uh before superior court. Oh certainly. Yes, sir.

So uh if there are legal issues that need unrangling those could also be addressed um in a legal fashion in the court. Yes, sir. Okay. Um, Alderwoman L, did you have your hand up? Yes, I did. All right. Then Alderwoman um Miller Blakeley and then Alderman Palumbo.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. To the attorney, the fact is that these properties are blighted. We saw the photographs um and they have become a nuisance in this community for quite some time. And I understand that these properties have appraised this one for 527 and there's a legal dispute for 375,000. This other one has appraised for 75,700 and there's a legal dispute for 274,000. So now uh there's a a financial case here, a lawsuit, but these matters would be settled in the superior court. So going forward based on this process, the court would first determine and verify that these properties are blighted that we all know. And then it goes back to court and the court determines uh the property value and the purchase price and I guess work out all of that in between the difference and who pays the difference whether they throw it out. That's not for us to decide. What we have to decide here is if we want to continue to have our code people, the police department, the fire department continue to go out and address these blighted properties. And should we in a community that we have are making a huge investment in to uplift the community, should we continue to to hold their hands while they go through this financial argument? And that's not for us to do. The court is going to decide that. So, Mr. Bates, going forward here today, Attorney Bates, we make this decision. Am I right in assuming that everything else will be decided by the Superior Court where it should be decided as far as the monies and I'm sorry.

Yes, ma'am. You're correct. You're correct. Okay. The superior court will make the determination if it does meet the blight definition. Um there they will be be appraisals and a fair market value will be paid into the court. And will they also be deciding the differences in the appraised value and the and the scams value and and these question that's not for us to. Well, they won't be determining the scam value. They will be looking at uh two different appraisals and then a third appraisal can be ordered if we can't come to a decision on the two appraisals. And that's not our decision here. We just correct need to decide what we can decide which is correct that we gonna move forward. Okay. Thank you very much. Alderman Miller Blakeley.

Thank you, Mayor Johnson. So based on what Alderwoman Laneir just said, once this process goes into the courts, the courts will decide what's going to happen as far as the money is concerned. They're not just going to we're not just going to imminent domain take the property and they get nothing back. Correct. Correct. The fund the fair market value will be paid into the court and then interested parties can't apply for it. So if her client holds a true interest in it for all of the value, they can apply and they could get all of the fair market value that's paid to the court less any fees or any type of leans that are there.

If her client does not have um a true claim to it, then it might be split further. Okay. Okay. But let me ask you this. If we do um agree with the resolution that takes control from the client, correct? That if I'm not mistaken, when we met yesterday, you said we have control of that property. The city has total control of that property and the client wouldn't have anything else to do with it. Correct.

Correct. if the court so deems that it is blighted and we've paid our funds into it. But I don't want to get confused with just because council authorizes the um authoriz us to proceed does not mean that we can't decide that they end up with clear title the list pending goes away and then if they want to sell it to the city the city can still purchase it that way. Okay. Gotcha. Okay. Thank you. Thank you Alderman Palumbo. Thank you Mr. Mayor. A question for the city attorney. Is there anything legally stopping the owner from restoring the property today? No. To your client, why haven't they begun working on the property today? I'm so sorry.

To your client, I I know you need to check with your client. Why aren't they not restoring the property today?

So, as I mentioned, we are out quite a bit of money on this. Um, we took the property back as collateral to replace the the money value that we lost. Um, and now because of the lawsuit in which this I mean I just wish this upon nobody, this person trying to call back all of these 65 different conveyances, including this one. Um, there's uncertainty surrounding what's going to happen because we have no control once it's in in the courts. And so being out such a substantial sum of money, um, there is real concern. Well, first of all, we just don't have a lot of money to then improvement prove it. As I said, we're hamstrung a little bit. We're in a we're just in a tough spot. So, I'm here. Yes, it's an LLC. It's an entity, but it's just two guys. Um, and that's what I'm here to say is look, we're out a whole bunch of money. We're fixing to lose the collateral that we took to mitigate that loss. And now, if you if you um if the city were to initiate imminent domain proceedings, um we'd lose our insurance coverage. So then they're having to pay me out of pocket and that's just a tough spot. They're not the only ones in that situation. I'm sure there'll be more coming down the line. And to Miss Hicks um point, we would be very happy to speak directly about selling. There's no problem. We, as I said, it's genuine when I say my client is very interested in improving that property. We just haven't been given the chance because of the perfect storm of events. Our attorney's office has indicated that there's nothing stopping your client from improving it. Today, I know that your clients are very likely familiar that every time they make an investment, there's an investor statement and a disclaimer at the bottom. Investments involve risk. They have taken a risk on this property. And once you enter the city of Savannah, you enter into a social contract with us that you will do as we do to take care of the neighborhoods that we have pride

in. We pave our streets. We fix our sidewalks. We maintain the trees. We just asked you to come and be a constituent and resident with us. When I looked at this and I said, "Well, from Kirkland, Washington, an investor from Kirkland, Washington, maybe they're not aware, but you've shared that they're just in Bluffton, South Carolina." There is nothing stopping, excuse me, there is nothing stopping your client from jumping in the truck today and starting work today. I find our code compliance department extremely lenient and the court system extremely lenient to anyone anyone who is actively working on their property if they don't have the ways the means the methods that is the investment risk that they took at that time. We are at the latest and last stage of the game. My recommendation to you and your to your clients and this is not legal advice that the timeline is before you. Superior Court is ahead of us and a demonstration of active work on the property may change the game. Thank you.

Thank you. Um is there a motion to close the hearing? Mr. Mayor, I make a motion to close the hearing. Second properly moved and seconded. All in favor indicate by saying I

oppose. Motion passes. Ma'am, ma'am, you you are um you're a fine counselor and and and you certainly um put forth the most effective case you could for your client. Um I think you notably admit that you're in a tough spot and so are we. We lose money every single day for every police officer that goes by, every firefighter that is afraid that this might catch on fire. For every code maintenance person that comes by and writes endless tickets,

for every piece of paper, every placket we have to put on there. For every time we we cut the grass, and really for every resident that hopes for a better day for this eyes saw and it doesn't happen. And so every day we lose credibility that we can't really get back, right? Um and I think to Alman Palumbo's point, obviously it is it's a risk. Um I just think for us it's a risk that we're not willing to take anymore. Um I think you have opportunities um from here before Superior Court

um to be able to address it. But I think this council uh and this city is just saying that at some point enough is enough. It's not all your responsibility. Has not been your client's responsibility. Um but the property has been a problem and we're sending a very clear message um that we're not dealing with problems like this any longer. So I just wanted to tell you that because you seem very passionate and I certainly appreciate the passion. Um but certainly you have to understand where we are as well. But I think you're a good attorney. I might hire you one day, Mr. Mayor. With Yes, ma'am. Um, are we ready?

Uh, yes. Yes, ma'am. Uh, we're moving to items number 11, which is resolution authorizing city manager to initiate condemnation proceedings to remedy blight through acquisition of 2210 Barrel Street and Ka Brownsville neighborhood and subsequent transfer to return the property to reductive residential use as specifically outlined in the description and attached authorizing resolutions. Aldwoman Laneir. Yes, Mr. Mayor. I move that we authorize the city manager to move forward with this resolution to initiate this condemnation on number 11 2210 Burough Streets and on number 12 2308. Let's take them separately, please. Yes, sir. Okay. Well, we're going with 2210 Burl Street. Second. Second. Properly moved and seconded. All in favor indicate by saying I. I.

Opposed. Motion passes. Item number 12. Resolution authorizes city manager to initiate combination proceedings to remedy blight through acquisition of 2308 Florence Street in Kala Brownville neighborhood is subsequent transfer to return the property to productive residential use as specifically outlined in the description in the attached uh authorizing resolutions. Aldwoman Laneir. Yes, Mr. Mayor. I move that we authorize the city manager to move forward with this resolution to initiate the condemnation on 2308 Florence Street. Second. Second. Been probably moved and seconded. All in favor indicate by saying I

oppose. Motion passes. Let this be notice, Mr. Manager, to those who continually harbor blight uh and disrepair in our community. We have a tool that we're not afraid to use. Hello. And so uh I ask you, Mr. Freddy, team uh we we need more

as appropriate. Uh, and council, I thank you for extending your courage, Miss Miss um, Williams. I appreciate you always for what you do for the good folks at Ka Browville. Um, and I would note that the last two items number 11 and 12, it was 80. Uh, alderwoman Shabbaz is not in the meeting. And let's make that for the record. Any other business before this council? Yes, ma'am. M, I just wanted to thank Mr. Freddy um his staff

for a really great presentation. Mr. Freddy, we so appreciate you everything that you do to make Savannah and our residents better. Thank you so much. Land Bank and CHSA also Community Park. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mr. Clerk. You have anything, sir? Mr. Attorney, Ma, Madam Attorney, did you have anything? No, sir. Thank you. Mr. Manager. Yes, sir. the I wanted to address um Ottawa Miller Blakeley asked the people in the room um and there are team members from team Savannah's blight fighters group um who are all here from code from housing to CHSA attorney's office

and they are dedicated to um uh to improving our communities and being able to use the tools that we have to do so and I want to give them a a special thanks as as well along with with of course Martin Freddy and the team at housing which is a part of the blight fighters but they're looking out for our community and we appreciate council's willingness to use these tools. Thank you. Can the blight fighters please stand up?

Yeah. And we thought y'all just here for a good public hearing. All right. Anything else with the manager? All right. Ladies and gentlemen, it's been a long day. God bless uh Mayor Johnson. Oh, before you stop, I want to tell everybody that today is Alderwoman Laneir's anniversary, her 16 years. That's right. She she mentioned it earlier. Yes. Yes. Yes. And and and we think it's honorable and admirable on her anniversary uh that she would be spending time with us. Yes. We are journed.