9/21/2023 0 Comments Road fight blight meaning![]() ![]() In return for making the improvements free in Olsen's case, the city wants the first rights to purchase a corner portion of his property if he decides to sell. Typically, property owners often carry the financial burden of such improvements. Decked out in overalls, he looks into the sunshine at his grassy field, straight rows of corn, a partially torn-down shed, a rusty, abandoned green car and stacks of firewood.Īnd he is frustrated - even when the city is willing to place in the infrastructure at no cost to Olsen. When he looks at his home, Olsen, a retired chiropractor, does not see blighted land but property that once fed sheep and cattle and still produces fresh vegetables. "In these cases, there are definitely some blighted buildings in that area and also there are some roads and streets that are not up to standard." "There's a whole list of terms to describe blight," Anderson said. Some factors included in the official definition of blight include: neglected buildings, cluttered lots, poor drainage ditches, overcrowding, inadequate size or irregularly shaped land for development, deterioration resulting from faulty planning, poor roadway surfaces and other conditions which could develop into health and social problems. Sandy city officials believe conditions on Olsen's property fit the state's definition of "blight." We want to have it developed in such a way that it will be a very high-caliber research-type development," said Bryant Anderson, Sandy City Council chairman. It means the land is perhaps dormant and has potential to be improved and developed to a higher use. "Blight doesn't mean the land is worthless. The only land we're actually taking is in the road right-of-way." "We are not attempting to take any of his land. "We have told him we would not condemn his land for the project," said Dick Bradford, Sandy RDA director. His fear, however, may not be justified because city officials have verbally committed not to condemn his land. And he plans to take the city to court to get the blight designation changed. "I don't want them to control my property. Olsen's concern with the designation is that, if he doesn't cooperate the city can use eminent-domain power, condemn his property and give a market-value price for the land - a price lower than what Olsen might get if he had the right to negotiate freely. In a joint public hearing June 26, City Council members and the Sandy Redevelopment Agency approved the irregularly shaped area of land as the "Civic Center North Development Neighborhood Area."īefore adopting this redevelopment area, the RDA and City Council designated nine parcels of land as "blighted" after reviewing an analysis by Richard Chong and Associates, a Salt Lake architectural/planning firm. Sandy City has earmarked property north of the South Towne Mall along I-15, including Olsen's, as a redevelopment area where they eventually hope to develop a business park - plans which have already attracted Novell, a nationally known computer company.Ĭity officials say the park will be a boon to the city economically, but a Salt Lake County official joins Olsen in raising doubts about the project. ![]() because he says he is tired of defending his rights as a property owner and fighting the city's plan to develop a business park.But even though he's planning to leave, Olsen doesn't want his property - a place where his wife was born and raised and where the Olsens have reared their five children - designated as "blighted." ![]() But city officials have told him it is.Īs a result of the city's decision, Olsen plans to move off his six acres of land at 9966 S. Olsen has lived in his home in Sandy for the past 42 years, and he didn't know his property was blighted. ![]()
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