(The Center Square) — The Shreveport City Council introduced an ordinance that would add specific definitions for blighted and abandoned properties to a previously passed ordinance to assist the city in combating blight in the area.
While Ordinance 38 on the council agenda cannot be passed before June 10, the council did move to introduce it along with eight other ordinances.
If the ordinance passes in June, it will fully comply with state law and also allow Property Standards to file liens to secure different costs incurred relating to blighted or abandoned structures.
The Department of Property Standards requested the amendment to the ordinance, previously passed in October 2019, concerning people charged with owning blighted or abandoned property. To comply with the current laws, the definitions for both need to be amended.
The ordinance is looking to define abandoned property as property that is vacant or no longer lawfully occupied. It says the terms vacant and not lawfully occupied include and are not limited to properties no longer occupied by the owner, lessee, or other invitees. And, if occupied without utilities and left unsecured or improperly secured. The definition also addresses a property utilized by vagrants or other people not invited as a place of “harborage”.
Properties no longer occupied have raised concerns among the city, as trespassers or squatters have been found using these properties for things like drug activity. Fires have also started in some of the vacant properties posing safety concerns.
Blighted property will be defined as commercial or residential property, including lots that are vacant, uninhabitable or a risk from their condition to people or property. The definition also outlines the term to include properties declared or certified as blighted and deemed a public nuisance by a court or administrative hearing officer.
Each definition discusses in detail the reasoning behind deeming a structure, lot or property abandoned or blighted. These amendments to the original ordinance will help the city in its attempts to address the blight issues throughout Shreveport.
Apart from the definition ordinance being introduced, the council passed tabled legislation concerning blight that was previously introduced in June 2024. While the council thinks it may need some amendments, they chose to move forward with passing it.
