Water Damage Restoration in Macon-Bibb County, GA

Tropical Storm Helene approached Central Georgia on Thursday and brought plenty of storms with it. Here's a full look at the impacts

Credit: WMAZ

MACON, Ga. — Even though Tropical Storm Helene has not made landfall yet, the impacts in Central Georgia have already been felt. Some tornado warnings and heavy rainfall have already led to roads being washed out and more.

Here's a look at power outages, road closures and damage reports as they stream into the newsroom.

According to Georgia Power and Flint Energies maps, several customers are seeing power outages across Central Georgia.

According to the US Power Outage map, there are over 700,00 people without power in the state of Georgia. As of around 5:30 p.m., on Saturday, Sept. 28, 42,538 Central Georgia residents are without power.

Lowndes County has been affected the most by power outages so far, according to the US Power Outage Map. They say 31,545 customers are without power as Hurricane Helene continues through Central Georgia.

Macon-Bibb County:

Houston County: Several roads are closed or blocked in Houston County due to tree's being down, floods or power lines being down. The following roads are closed.

Laurens County: Sherriff said the vast majority of roads in the county are impassible due to downed trees or power lines. Gov. Brian Kemp recently announced that Interstate-16 is fully closed.

Washington County: Sheriff said the vast majority of road in the county are impassible due to downed trees or power lines

Storm Damages and Flood pictures from around Central Georgia

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Nicholas Ayerbe

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Macon Housing Authority CEO Mike Austin said the project will be around $17 to $19 million and will take 12 to 16 months

MACON, Ga. — It’s a new era for the Pleasant Hill community.

On Wednesday, Macon-Bibb County mayor Lester Miller, Macon Housing Authority and the Pleasant Hill Neighborhood Organization came together to announce plans to build more affordable housing in Pleasant Hill and to make an effort to revitalize the community.

“It took a great deal of work between multiple groups to make all this happen, and without this step, the future of this block would still be unknown today,” Miller said. “But with this step, we can all help. With residents supporting our organizations, (we can) chart a better future for our children, for our families and more importantly, for this neighborhood.”

Miller and Macon Housing Authority CEO Mike Austin announced that an old school building in the community would be demolished and rebuilt into a new place, which will have 64 new units of affordable housing. Austin said that the project will cost around $17 to $19 million and will take 12 to 16 months to complete.

Austin has had plenty of experience working with affordable housing. He’s recently worked on a few affordable housing projects in the Macon-Bibb area, including a recent $20 million renovation in Mounts Homes.

While he acknowledged it isn’t easy, he said that, with affordable housing being such a prevalent issue, that he is excited to team up with so many to create opportunities for those in need.

“Everybody knows you can’t turn on the news these days and not see a story about the demand for affordable housing. Not just in Macon, but throughout the entire United States,” Austin said. “It is very hard to obtain these days, and that’s why it’s important that we take on projects like this and provide more affordable housing for the residents of our community.”

Alongside the new units of affordable housing, Miller wants to continue to expand the Pleasant Hill community. He said he wants to keep growing the area and making it a great place to live for the current and future residents of Pleasant Hill.

He added that he wants to hear from the Pleasant Hill community themselves on what they’d like. to be added. He gave examples like transforming the old rundown playgrounds into spaces for kids to play, or possibly putting up buildings like a gymnasium, a possible food court or just new open spaces for the community.

“This abandoned area will once again live as a center of the community, and that is truly what makes today a great day for Macon-Bibb County,” Miller said.

Erion Smith, the Chair of the Pleasant Hill Neighborhood organization, has been ecstatic to the neighborhood he’s spent his whole life in expanding, but is also hopeful to grow the historic area.

“We must give honor to our history and our ancestors with what is done here.” Smith said. “Affordable housing must be truly affordable and it must be the right kind of housing that will complement a rejuvenation and resurrection of the Pleasant Hill neighborhood.”

Miller, Austin and Smith all noted how important the communication has been between every party involved and all gave thanks to how helpful they’ve been.

Together, they’re excited to bring life back into the historic community.

“It won’t be long (until) we’ll be standing here again (and) cutting a ribbon,” Austin said.

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For years, Macon-Bibb has been demolishing houses they call blight. Arnold says he tried talking with county officials to stop the demolition before it happened.

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MACON, Ga. — Macon-Bibb County has demolished hundreds of homes in its fight against blight, but one homeowner said they've gone too far.

Eric Arnold said the county wrongfully demolished the home he was fixing up. Now, he's taking the county to court.

Wednesday morning, Arnold and his lawyers held a press conference where the house used to stand and announced he's suing Macon-Bibb. Arnold said he was fixing the property up for his family to live in one day, so he is devastated.

"When I think about it, I tear up because I knew what I had planned for this property," Arnold said.

Eric Arnold and his lawyer Christie Hebert said they want justice and answers from the county about why they are demolishing so many properties.

"Eric's lawsuit isn't about just one man's house. It's about protecting the constitutional rights of all property owners in Macon-Bibb County," Hebert said.

Arnold bought the property at 1151 Sunnydale Drive in February 2022. According to county tax records, Arnold bought the home for $15,000.

He said he found out the county planned to demolish his home when they placed a dumpster on his property. He tried talking with county officials to stop the demolition. They demolished his home in November 2023.

“It's like they just took it all away from me,” he said. “They took my dignity away from me. They took... like I wasn't even a person. Like 'You don't even exist, we just going to do what we want. This is our town.'”

Arnold and his lawyers said they want the county to reimburse them for the value of the house and for the renovation materials stored there.

Jerry Collins lives a few houses down. He said this isn't the first time he's seen the county demolish a home in his neighborhood that the owner was trying to rehab.

"There's a lot of folks who are doing their best to bring a lot of these old houses back to life and revitalize the neighborhood,” he said. “And I see good things but if this keeps up those good things may not happen and that's what really concerns me."

For several years, Macon-Bibb has been demolishing houses they call blight. They're usually vacant, unkept homes that the county calls a nuisance. Arnold said he paid his taxes on the property and got the permits he needed before the county tore down his house.

"I did everything I was supposed to do,” Arnold said. “I thought I was ok. I wasn't ok. They still knocked my house down."

According to county tax records, the owner filed an interior renovation permit with the intent to completely rehab the house on Nov. 14, 2023. According to Arnold, the home was demolished Nov. 15, 2023.

The county and code enforcement officials sent a statement regarding the issue.

“We have not yet been served any lawsuit regarding this property so cannot comment on the specifics,” Macon-Bibb County said. “However, we are aware of the demolition on Sunnyvale Drive. A letter designating it as a Nuisance Per Se and blighted and that it would be torn down if not repaired was provided several years ago, as well as notice posted on the property. The letter is not legally required for this process, but we provide it as a form of notice and allow the property owner the option to fix their property. The property was sold in February 2022 (after it was deemed blighted), and Code Enforcement provided the new homeowner nearly 20 months to pull any construction permits or fix it up. No permits were pulled, and we were not made aware of any improvements made before the demolition permit was pulled in August 2023. There were still several months between that and when demolition of the blighted structure occurred.”

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A man who bought a blighted property in Macon with plans to renovate it is suing Macon-Bibb County because he says they “unconstitutionally” destroyed the site.

Eric Arnold, a renovator, says he bought the property at 1151 Sunnydale Drive in February 2022 to turn it into a home for his children or a rental property. But after months of renovation, a demolition crew attempted to install a dumpster in his front yard. The crew eventually told Arnold that the county ordered them to demolish the house.

Arnold alleges there was no notice given, nor was there a court proceeding to plead his case. He said they defied his constitutional rights. Arnold is asking for a jury to hear his case and be paid back the cost of the house, plus any expenses used to renovate the house. Christie Hebert, a lawyer representing Arnold in this case, says the exact amount is up to the jury to determine.

“Eric was actively renovating the house, investing his time, resources and considerable skills as an accomplished carpenter and home renovator,” Hebert said as she stood alongside Arnold and supporting attorney Michael Cooper in front of what was left of the property. “There simply was no reason to demolish Eric’s house, but the county demolished it anyway.”

His lawsuit says he visited the code enforcement department, mayor’s office, county attorney’s office and planning and zoning office to understand why his house was being planned for demolition. Other than confirmation that a demolition permit was issued for his house, he said he never found out their explanation and he wasn’t able to prevent the tear-down.

His house was completely demolished by Nov. 15. Code enforcement officers showed up armed to ensure that the house would be demolished, according to the lawsuit.

“Although Eric’s house was a work in progress, it certainly wasn’t a public menace requiring unilateral, extrajudicial, and expedited demolition,” Arnold’s lawyers wrote in the lawsuit.

“I moved to Georgia with a vision of generational wealth for my kids, my grandkids,” said Arnold. “That process came to a halt.”

But Macon-Bibb County officials say adequate notice was given that the house was set to be demolished.

Chris Floore, chief communications officer for Macon-Bibb County, said a letter declaring Arnold’s house a nuisance and a warning of its demolition were both posted on the property. The letter is not legally required for this process, he said, “but we provide it as a form of notice and allow the property owner the option to fix their property.”

Code enforcement allegedly gave Arnold 20 months to fix up the house or provide permits, but they were unaware of any improvements made before the property was demolished, Floore said.

Macon-Bibb County has frequently torn down blighted buildings in Macon, and has championed the effort as the “blight fight,” seeking to put more useful homes and buildings in the place of torn down properties.

Arnold’s attorneys claim that his experience is just one example of the county’s “aggressive” effort to tear down buildings in the last few years. They say that, when the county is eyeing a property to demolish, they must first clear it with the court.

Arnold’s lawsuit asserted that the county could only move forward with demolition against an owner’s wishes if the owner fails to comply with a court order over the property. That court process is supposed to give people such as Arnold a chance to be heard. They also argued that blighted homes must be unocuppied and in very poor condition.

However, Mayor Lester Miller has the power to determine if blighted houses are nuisances without going through the court, according to the county’s code of ordinances.

The lawsuit Arnold is bringing against Macon-Bibb County so the court could recognize that “Macon-Bibb County’s secretive, expedited and summary process for demolishing houses is unconstitutional,” according to the suit.

This story was originally published September 18, 2024, 3:26 PM.

The Telegraph

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Alba Rosa, from Puerto Rico, is a local courts reporter for The Telegraph in Macon, Georgia. She studied journalism at Florida International University in Miami, Florida where she graduated Magna Cum Laude in December 2023. Other than journalism, she likes to make art, write and produce music and delve into the fashion world.

Arnold's lawsuit accuses Macon-Bibb County of retaliation, claiming officials sped up the process of demolishing the home after Arnold increased efforts to avoid it.

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Bibb County homeowner Eric Arnold has filed a lawsuit against the county after his house on Sunnydale Drive was torn down.

Arnold says he purchased his house in 2022, hoping to repair it and turn it into a future home for his children or a rental property. He says he has worked as a carpenter and home renovator for decades, dismissing the notion that the home could not be properly restored.

“That’s what I’ve done for 40 years,” Arnold said Wednesday. “And they told me, ‘You can’t touch that house.’ So, it was just a bullying type of tactic that they used to try to scare me from touching my own house.”

Arnold’s lawsuit accuses Macon-Bibb County of retaliation, claiming officials sped up the process of demolishing the home after Arnold increased efforts to avoid it.

Arnold was at his other Macon home in September 2023 when his neighbor on Sunnydale Drive called to inform him that a demolition crew was installing a dumpster on his property. Eric says he talked and met with county officials to stop the demolition, while continuing his work to restore the property. Arnold claims he was taken by surprise when the home was torn down two months later due to a lack of communication from officials.

“I had no idea that they were knocking down the house until I got a phone call from the neighbor,” Arnold said. “And when I rushed down here, half the house was gone.”

In a statement shared with 41NBC, Macon-Bibb County Chief Communications Officer Chris Floore said the following:

“We have not yet been served any lawsuit regarding this property so cannot comment on the specifics. However, we are aware of the demolition on Sunnyvale Drive. A letter designating it as a Nuisance Per Se and blighted and that it would be torn down if not repaired was provided, as well as notice posted on the property. The letter is not legally required for this process, but we provide it as a form of notice and allow the property owner the option to fix their property. The property was sold in February 2022 (after it was deemed blighted), and Code Enforcement provided the new homeowner nearly 20 months to pull any construction permits or fix it up. No permits were pulled, and we were not made aware of any improvements made before the demolition permit was pulled in August 2023. There were still several months between that and when demolition of the blighted structure occurred.”

In the last three years, the county has demolished close to 800 blighted properties. Institute for Justice attorney Christie Hebert feels the county is moving at a rate that represents clear malpractice. Hebert says this case is a fight not only for Arnold, but for property owners across the county against what she calls “aggressive” efforts to tear down homes.

“It’s about protecting the constitutional right for all property owners in Macon-Bibb County and beyond,” Hebert said. “And if justice is done, the constitutional rights of property owners across the county will be protected.”

Arnold is not yet aware of the amount he’ll seek in damages, but he says it will reflect the amount of time and work he put into trying to restore the home.