City's Flat Branch options few

ByS&awnBaRhrop Misscurigs staff writer Now that the proposed Flat Branch redevelopment project has been defeated, the city will study its other options toward cleaning up that area. Those options, according to City Counselor Scott Snyder, are few. "There's not a lot we can do that we havent already done," Snyder said
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Friday. The city's options, along with action already taken, are discussed in a city counselor's office report that will be presented to the Columbia City Council
Monday. During the controversy surrounding the Flat Branch referendum, Snyder said, many people got the impression that the dry simply could enforce

existing zoning laws and building regulations and dean up the area. But the actions that the city can take, he said, are limited. The Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority, Snyder said, has much broader powers of condemnation than the city. The authority can condemn land in a blighted area for the larger public good whether the buildings are structurally sound or not. The city has no such powers, Snyder said. It can only condemn a property if it is proven structurally unsound. For example, he said, the city's Quonset hut is certainly not an attractive part of the area. As a city property, it is not subject to codes. But even if it were privately owned, he said, there is nothing the city can do. "It doesnt have any weeds or trash

around it," Snyder said. "It's structurally sound. Being ugly is not a reason for condemning a property." Most of the area is currently zoned M-- l, for light industrial use. That zoning, according to Public Works Director Ray Beck, provides for mixed land use. This can lead to the type of clutter currently seen in that area, and there is no dry ordinance that would rid the area of that clutter. Nor would downzoning or reaming that area provide much relief for its ills, Snyder said. Changing the zoning classifications would have no immediate effect on the buildings in that area. Because of what is often called a "grandfather clause," any building there now would be allowed to remain mere for the rest of its

life, or until its value decreases 75 percent. At that rate it could be many years before the area shows much improvement, Snyder said. The only real effect would be to control expansion of existing businesses in the area and any future development. There are some avenues open to the city in trying to clean up that area. According to Columbia Fire Marshal Don Christian, the fire department has turned over "three or four" cases, where fire code violations pose an actual threat to the public, to the city legal department for prosecution. The Public Works Department also has held a public hearing on the condition of the Columbia Ice and Storage Co. Beck said he is drawing up a set of conditions for bringing that building up to standards.

prosecuted. The city also has taken the owners of Johnson concrete the displant to court over a pute. This matter arose last summer when the city acquired the railroad y in that area and began a cleanup. At that time it was discovered mat the concrete plant encroached on and it has since the city's been trying to get the structure moved. The court has still not decided the issue. But despite these measures, the larger question of salving the blight in Flat a question that curBranch remains rent city statues may not be able to answer.
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The property owner will have a certain length of time to begin correcting these problems, after which he will be

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