Bowman Updates Nuisance Ordinance

By David Stephens, WSGC Radio, Elberton

The City of Bowman has updated its nuisance ordinance.

During their meeting on Monday, the Bowman Council held the second reading and approval of the city’s new nuisance ordinance.

Bowman City Mayor Pete Gibbons outlined what the new ordinance entails.

“It will help us combat abandoned buildings and trailers and things of that nature that have been left unattended that have become safety hazards”, said Gibbons. “It gives us more teeth to go after property owners who leave abandoned buildings unattended that can cause safety concerns.”

Gibbons says it has been quite some time since the ordinance was last updated, and that the new version is a bit more specific when it comes to what the city can do.

“This kind of spells out a lot clearer and gives us a better definition of what we are going after”, said Gibbons. “We’re not trying to penalize a homeowner who has a hard time keeping up there grass, this is more for folks who have left their buildings unattended and they become a nuisance or hazard to the community around them.”

On the issue of some dilapidated properties the city began looking into earlier this year, Gibbons says a lot of progress has been made on that front.

He says a majority of the property owners responded back and addressed the issues the city presented them.

“I was pleasantly surprised about the feedback and the work we received, I think once we reached out to homeowners they were more than happy to fix the problems”, said Gibbons.

Gibbons does say there are a couple of properties that haven’t been as cooperative and that the city is going to continue to work on resolving those issues going forward.

The Bowman City Council approved the new nuisance ordinance with a unanimous vote.