Since Mr. Clell Lambert of Peninsula Drive has commented on the Peachtree City proposed ordinance regarding vacant homes, I would like to make a statement to say what happens when you live next to a vacant home for 15 years.
Mr. Lambert states that a $200 fee to register a vacant home is “excessive.” I’ll tell you what’s excessive, Mr. Lambert.
Your cemented driveway is coal black while others in the neighborhood are clean and white, your trees have never been trimmed and have vines strangling the very life out of them, your weeds get mowed only when they reach a foot high and a neighbor reports it to PTC, water runoff from the property has eroded all traces of grass leaving exposed dirt, the back yard has never been attended to and vines are presently trespassing onto your neighbor’s yard, parts of your home siding are broken, loose, fading; year after year tree leaves never get removed, leaving the ground grassless, roof gutters are never cleaned out, causing water overflow, creating a problem for your neighbor.
That’s just the outside of the home. Without air condition operating in the summer months for 15 years, what are you hiding inside the home? When you sell this house, will the occupants’ health be considered in your sale?
By the way, Mr. Lambert, why did you hold the home so long and now begin to complain about selling houses in today’s market?
PTC will never ask you to paint your house, Mr. Lambert, and you know this to be a fact. It is you that has carried this to an extreme. Wise up, Mr. Lambert, to the fact that it is your neighbors that are losing money on their property values.
To Councilman Doug Sturbaum: Do not compromise on this issue. Mr. Lambert and others like him have to know lower fees are not the answer.
Bob Bartley
Peachtree City, Ga.
