City Council Passes New Apartment Standards Targeting Buford Highway

The Brookhaven City Council last week passed new requirements for apartment landlords, and the message is simple: Clean up or lose your right to do business.

The council voted unanimously during its April 9 meeting on a new ordinance that requires all multi-family housing units to be inspected in order to get a business license.

Under the ordinance, an independent third-party will inspect the interior of each occupied unit in the city’s 72 apartment complexes to ensure compliance with minimum life safety standards. City staff will inspect the exterior of the complexes.

The inspections will occur over the next 18 months.

The ordiance speeds up the city's inspections schedule and forces apartment complexes to pick up the cost, according to Neighbor Newspapers.

From their story:

Mayor Pro Tem Rebecca Chase Williams, filling in for the vacationing Mayor J. Max Davis, said the city council will not tolerate “deplorable” living conditions like they saw during a recent tour.

“We’ve even had to condemn a unit and move the family out, a family of six with one child that had cerebral palsy, and find some safer living for them,” she said.

The ordinance is just the beginning of the Buford Highway Improvement Program, which Brookhaven plans to launch in several weeks. The city is currently finalizing details on an Intergovernmental Agreement between Brookhaven and DeKalb County’s Community Development departments.

Under the program, the city will partner with DeKalb and use $500,000 from the county’s Community Development Block Grant program to assist apartment complex owners with upgrades. The $500,000 grant is only a portion of the county’s CDBG program and will be designated for repairs and upgrades to the exterior of the complexes.

Additional initiatives are planned to enhance tourism in the area as a component of Brookhaven’s comprehensive plan, which will start this summer.

“Our goal is to provide safe and affordable workforce housing so our residents can live close to where they work and go to school,” City Manager Marie L. Garrett said.

Patch also asked residents last week what they'd do to improve that area. Join the conversation.