The house is falling apart. The yard is thick with grass and weeds, several feet high.
It is not a new issue.
The Lowndes County Board of Supervisors and — closer to home — Keith Kimmerle”s Oakdale Park neighbors, have been dealing with the dilapidated property for more than a decade.
After Kimmerle made an appearance before the Board of Supervisors in October 2009, he “cleaned up” the lot, County Administrator Ralph Billingsley recalled. Now, it”s time to clean it up again, or the county may officially declare it dilapidated and tear it down.
Billingsley has exchanged emails with Kimmerle but doesn”t have a mailing address for him. At Tuesday”s Board of Supervisors meeting, Billingsley told supervisors he would email Kimmerle about appearing at another overgrown lot hearing and would also advertise the hearing in the newspaper.
District 5 Supervisor Leroy Brooks was more interested in tearing the house down than seeking out Kimmerle for cleanup or spending county dollars on cleaning the property.
Twice a year, the county spends time cutting overgrown lots and cleaning up other privately owned eyesores. The cleanup efforts cannot exceed $10,000 in any calendar year, and the bill is passed on to the property owners.
“If he decides not to do anything, can we proceed to make a decision to tear the house down?” Brooks asked. “The city does it all the time.”
Brooks also appealed to the board last year to condemn the property and demolish it.
“It”s just a mess,” Brooks said Tuesday. “Six months from now, we”ll be doing the same thing.”
“Yes, it”s an ongoing deal,” agreed Supervisor Frank Ferguson, who oversees District 2, where the Kimmerle house is located.
Tearing down Kimmerle”s house and another “definitely dilapidated” house in District 3 is a possibility, Billingsley said.
“Nothing”s been done to it since that weekend in October,” said Billingsley. “It”s in terrible shape.”
Supervisors plan to hold the hearing at their July 5 board meeting, since there has to be at least three weeks notice to the property owner.
In reply to an initial email from Billingsley that the property again needed serious attention, Kimmerle asked for more details on the issue. He had not, as of Tuesday, responded to Billingsley”s email, which was sent about two weeks ago, further explaining the problem.
Kimmerle earned the nickname “the bird man” several years ago, when he appeared before the supervisors defending his overgrown yard. Kimmerle said he was an avid bird watcher and let the yard grow into its jungle-like state as a way to attract birds to his two four-story birdhouses mounted on 20-foot poles in the front yard.
Also in the yard is an abandoned Ford Taurus, packed full with old boxes and other items. The front of the house is overflowing with old boxes and other debris.
Lowndes County handles 15 to 20 complaints each year about delinquent properties, ranging from overgrown lots to abandoned cars or debris. The city of Columbus processes 400-500 cases each year, mostly overgrown lots, and some abandoned houses. The city demolishes more buildings, mostly residential, than any city in the state.
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