LCRA continues work; over 50 properties cleaned of debris, trash

Sikeston Community Development Director Barry Blevins works to clean an LCRA property in Sikeston. Blevins and his crew recently cleared over 50 lots of debris and trash.

Photo provided by Marty Evans

SIKESTON — Since it was created over 20 years ago, the Land Clearance Redevelopment Authority (LCRA) has worked to clean up blighted properties. The LCRA work continues as recently over 50 properties were cleaned of debris and trash.

“The LCRA is still active,” said Dan Marshall, chairman of the LCRA board since 2010. “We’re still doing what the community has asked us to do, which is to cleanup the blighted and unsanitary properties. We have, since we’ve started, cleaned up over 500-600 derelict properties in the community.”

On April 3, 2001, Sikeston’s voters overwhelmingly approved the creation of the LCRA. Charged with identifying blighted areas within Sikeston, the commission is then responsible for developing and implementing a plan to provide well-organized residential neighborhoods of decent homes.

The LCRA occasionally purchases title to tax delinquent properties not sold at the Sheriff’s sale. It may also receive title to properties through donations.

The LCRA consists of a five-member board and support staff that oversees many aspects of public and private real estate development in the City of Sikeston.

Sikeston Community Development Director Barry Blevins said the LCRA currently is responsible for 127 lots. That’s down from 468 lots in 2010 and 280 lots in 2015.

“We’ve gone from managing several hundred properties to a more reasonable 127,” Marshall said.

Earlier this month, Blevins and a couple City employees cleaned brush, overgrowth and trash from over 50 lots as part of a massive cleanup.

Blevins said the cleanup was put out to bid three times by the City. The first time a bid was received but was incomplete and the second time a bid was received that was extremely high. The third time no bids were received.

So the LCRA and Blevins decided to do it themselves. LCRA provided the financial resources to rent equipment and Blevins used the equipment to clear the lots.

“It was me and another guy from my department and on two separate occasions it was another guy from public works coming into help,” Blevins said. “From two to three guys at any time working on these projects. It was over the course of six days, somewhere around 40 man hours to do the lots we did.”

Blevins estimated they hauled over 15 loads of debris.

“Some may have just have a scoop or two of limbs that just needed to be moved,” Blevins said. “What happens is if we don’t get to these lots as they do begin to have a pile, people say there’s a pile there, and add to it. We had a couple that were really bad with mattresses, box springs, couches and chairs.”

Blevins said they spent about $15,000 on equipment, which is much lower than the bid turned into the city.

“We’ve really had a difficult time this time to get people to get bids from contractors to cleanup than we ever have before,” Marshall said.

Blevins said part of the reason they did the cleanup was to encourage Sikeston residents to keep their properties clean.

“You have a lot of citizens that have junk and trash in their yard and municipal code says that stuff can’t exist,” Blevins said. “So how do you regulate and keep things up to code if your own house isn’t clean?”

Going back to the creation of the LCRA, the organization has had different ways of keeping the properties mowed and cleaned, including a program where students took care of the properties in the summer.

“We did that for three years and that’s back when we had a much larger number of lots to take care of,” Marshall said. “But they ran into the same thing. When they would be mowing, there would be trash and things so they would just mow around it.”

Marshall said Sikeston isn’t the only place where people dump trash on empty lots.

“It happens everywhere,” Marshall said. “It’s not acceptable but it is what it is.”

Blevins said next year he hopes to bid out the mowing of the lots to someone who would also help keep the trash gathered as well.

“I don’t know if that will work out or not,” Blevins added.

Marshall said the LCRA is fortunate to have citizens that are close to their lots that help maintain them and keep them clean.

“They mow the lot that is next to their house to make it look like a nice, well kept yard and they’ll help keep the trash off,” Marshall said. “The citizen involvement in the community has been good.”

Blevins said they really strive to make Sikeston a more beautiful place each and every day.

“It’s only achieved if citizens are willing to do some of the work also,” Blevins said. “You want the citizens to depend on the city to a degree but you also want the city to depend on the citizens. You don’t always see that.”