Montgomery City Councilman’s Proposed Program Could Help Vacant Lots
Councilman William Green is looking to clean up Montgomery with his “Mow to Own” program.
“For particularly the city and state owned properties we want to allow the citizens that live closer to those properties to be able to takeover those properties by actually taking care of the properties for maybe about 6 months. Then after 6 months we would actually go in and give the property to them,” says Green.
Green says while the proposal is in the works, some changes could still be made.
“We may shorten the time that it actually takes for people to take over the property. So it’s a lot of things that we’re looking into but we’re excited it. Most of the council and the mayor are on board with it,” says Green.
“If it’s going to help out good. If it’s going to get rid of some of these eyesores then I think it’s of a good idea,” says
Among several of the proposed qualifications for eligibility for the program, citizens would need to be current on all Montgomery County real estate and compliant with the city’s income tax.
“I think if we get more ownership of the property in the community then I think that they would begin to take care of their properties as well as we can get those properties back on the tax rolls,” says Green.
Green says the program is just one way to strengthen neighborhoods.
“When we first got in office, one of the things that we did do was neighborhood revitalization. So that was a framework in it also. So what the mow to own does is as well as with the new ordinance that I passed to them is that we’re going to take that and implement something so I think we’ll be able to to roll this out very soon,” says Green.
Right now, Green says the program is only aimed at vacant lots.
