County commissioners Jimmie Stephens and Lashunda Scales agreed that it’s not enough to tear down blighted properties in Jefferson County.

Each said something needs to fill the voids left behind.

During their committee meeting Tuesday, commissioners heard reports from Development Services about buildings that had been torn down to remove blight. A lien was placed on each of the properties so the county can be paid for the demolition.

“When we go and demolish properties … what are we looking to do as it relates to redevelopment of these communities?” Scales asked.

Deputy County Manager Daren Lanier said the county has found it difficult to work with for-profit organizations but has tried to work with Habitat for Humanity in hopes of developing affordable housing.

Community Development Director Frederick Hamilton said his department budgets Community Development Block Grant dollars from the federal government to communities to develop and improve living environments through affordable housing.

Said Scales: “Tearing down is one portion of it, but we need to make sure that we are redeveloping those areas, especially unincorporated areas. If they’re in a city, that’s something different. But if they’re in unincorporated areas, they depend solely on us to be able to help with their community needs.”

Stephens, the commission president, asked whether the county might be able to acquire the title to the property to hasten redevelopment. County Attorney Theo Lawson said the county’s mission is to abate the nuisance by tearing down the blighted buildings.

Joe Knight, who chairs the commission’s finance committee, was concerned that weeds will eventually grow on the vacated properties. He wondered if the county would thus be responsible for clearing the weeds.

“It’s a matter of getting rid of the structure,” Lawson said. “Once we remove the structure, that’s where we are within our authority. As far as the weeds, that’s a different issue. What we’re dealing with here is abatement nuisance, which is structure itself.”

Stephens asked Lanier and another county staffer to discuss establishing some demolition areas for redevelopment.

“Perhaps next year in our budget, we can set aside some monies to redevelop this area,” Stephens said. “You’re taking a blighted area that has an old, probably burned-out house (and) torn the house down. But in the matter of three years, like Commissioner Knight said, it is going to all be grown back up and look just as bad as it did before.

“We need to go ahead and make that investment for the citizens of Jefferson County,” Stephens said.

Knight cautioned that there are several areas across the county where blighted structures have been demolished.

“These are privately owned homes,” Knight said. “Are we going to go in and buy those homes and redevelop them? That’s a big budget item. I get the overall sense that would be nice. But when you start this early saying we can add to the budget, our budget is already going to be tight.”

Resolutions involving the demolished structures were added to the agenda for consideration during Thursday’s commission meeting.