An abandoned property sticks out among the row of modest houses in the Greyson Street neighborhood in Henry County’s Collinsville district.
For years, the home has been vacant, with overgrowth almost completely covering its street-facing exterior, to the dismay of some neighbors.
“It’s about time,” said Aesha Mitchell upon learning about plans to demolish the house and similar structures throughout the county.
As next-door neighbors of the Greyson Street structure, Mitchell and her family are recent transplants to the community. She said that while the neighborhood is what attracted her, the property slated for demolition sticks out like a sore thumb.
“All these other houses in the neighborhood look nice, so why can’t this one?” Mitchell asked.
It’s a question county officials have asked themselves. In the past several months, county staff has worked to identify and get rid of properties they have deemed as blighted. Their efforts have culminated in a plan to demolish the Greyson Street house along with three dozen other blighted properties.
At their June 5 meeting, county supervisors voted unanimously to demolish 39 properties deemed unsafe. Section 106 of the Virginia Administrative Code deals with unsafe structures and their acquisition by local governments.
“All conditions causing such structures to be classified as unsafe shall be remedied or as an alternative to correcting such conditions, the structure may be vacated and secured against public entry or razed and removed,” reads a portion of the code.
County officials further justified the demolition project by referencing complaints from residents.
“We’ve heard loud and clear from our citizens that blighted and unkept properties are a concern, and this action shows that we’re not just listening but we’re doing the legwork to respond,” said board chair Jim Adams. “While the board has long recognized these issues, the feedback we received through the comprehensive planning process helped reinforce the need to prioritize this effort and commit the necessary resources.”
Demolishing old structures to erect new housing is a relatively new strategy officials say came about from polling the public. Officials said that around 69% of the public disagreed with the statement “Properties in the county are well maintained.”
The demolitions are expected to cost a total of $390,000. Funding for this project will come from the county’s reserves.
The properties are spread out across the county and are located in each of its six magisterial districts.
An additional nine properties, while not scheduled for demolition, are subject to enforcement if property owners don’t take steps toward remediation.
The Iriswood and Ridgeway districts have the least number of projects, at three each, with an estimated demolition cost of $36,000 and $46,000, respectively. At eight properties, Horsepasture’s expected demolition cost totals $67,000. Blackberry’s five properties are expected to cost $51,000 for demolition.
The Collinsville District has the bulk of the project load, with 17 structures slated to be torn down, at an expected cost of $117,000.
Collinsville is also the location of the county’s Villa Heights rehabilitation project. Located at the intersection of Stultz Road and Dexter Street, the proposed Villa Heights neighborhood is in its early stages of construction. Once the location of several blighted structures, the project seeks to construct 13 new affordable housing units.
Under current plans, the 13 Villa Heights homes are designated as affordable housing and will be sold at around the cost of construction. Current cost estimates are $200,000 per unit.
While construction on Villa Heights is set to begin soon, officials said an end date for the project is still too early to establish.
Officials also don’t have a completion date for the countywide demolition project.
