Cudahy redevelopment problems; 'blighted' property concerns neighbor
CUDAHY, Wis. - There is concern and confusion in Cudahy, as a proposed redevelopment plan is designed to reshape a portion of the city.
Crews would knock down old and abandoned buildings.
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But residents are worried leaders will try to take down their perfectly good homes too.
What we know:
The City of Cudahy sent out a notice of public hearing before the Community Development Authority regarding the creation of redevelopment in District 3.
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The notice said the project focuses along South Packard Ave and the Union Pacific railroad corridor between Holmes and College Ave.
It would be a huge, multi-million-dollar redevelopment for the area.
A citizen's cocnern
What they're saying:
Brandon Smith said he has lived in his home near Hammond and Packard for 35 years. He said he feared the proposed redevelopment plan could force him out.
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"I’m sitting here thinking, they could take my house away from me at any moment and I will have no home," Smith said. "It’s a threat and I really don’t appreciate this threat."
When looking at the redevelopment map, he noticed the city put him in the zone and marked his house as blighted. Smith said he believed the city was prepping to use eminent domain to take properties in the redevelopment zone.
Mayor responds
The other side:
Cudahy’s mayor addressed the issue on Tuesday night at the community development authority meeting.
"The city is interested in not taking anyone’s property," Mayor Thomas Pavlic said. "We had to draw a line to contain all the blighted, what we think are blighted properties, and it includes properties that are perfectly fine."
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Pavlic said the process is part of state statute.
"It was really to focus on some properties, the old K-mart, the old Packard Plaza," he said. "There’s perfectly perfect properties within this district, like we’re not going to touch those."
What's next:
Brandon Smith will be able to express more concerns at a public meeting Feb. 25.
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"If you’re marked as a blighted house, is your house going to be taken away? The city has repeatedly said no but then in the next sentence, ‘oh this is just a draft.’ What could that draft change into? There’s still a lot of unknowns here."
City documents show the city hopes to adopt a plan by March of this year.
The Source: The information in this post was produced by FOX6 News.