Group aims to get land ‘back into commerce’

• By RICHARD BURGESS
• Advocate Acadiana bureau
• Published: Jul 8, 2009 - Page: 1BA

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LAFAYETTE — A new nonprofit group aligned with city-parish government is working to redevelop the hundreds of abandoned properties in Lafayette.

The Lafayette Land Revitalization Authority plans to acquire abandoned and blighted property and then market the property for redevelopment, said Lafayette attorney Gary McGoffin, who was retained by city-parish government to organize the group.

The idea, McGoffin said, is to clean up the properties and get them “back into commerce.”

The group’s first effort is an attempt to capture a $20 million federal stimulus grant to redevelop neighborhoods with a high number of foreclosures and blighted properties.

The money would be used to acquire land, renovate abandoned homes, and build new homes, condominiums and apartments in the McComb-Veazey neighborhood, said Nathan Thornton, chairman of the revitalization authority and a small-business consultant at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

McGoffin said there are about 251 vacant lots in the McComb-Veazey neighborhood, which is east of Evangeline Thruway in the Pinhook Road and Simcoe Street areas.

“There seems to be a good inventory there,” he said.

McGoffin said the revitalization authority can acquire property for redevelopment by buying it or through a donation of tax-delinquent property from local government.

The group could also accept donations from residents of blighted property the owners no longer want to pay taxes on or maintain, he said.

“There are some landowners who want to get rid of the property, but they have nowhere to get rid of it,” Thornton said.

The revitalization authority would work to clear up legal issues of ownership, pending liens and back taxes, McGoffin said.

Tracking down all the legal owners — there could be several dozen if land has gone through generations of successions — is often the most difficult part in redeveloping blighted property, said Lafayette City-Parish Planning Manager Mike Hollier.

After acquiring the property, the revitalization authority could then redevelop the land or offer the parcels to private interests or other nonprofits for redevelopment.