City of Flint Adopts Blight Elimination Plan

The City of Flint has adopted a plan that will attempt to deal with nearly 20,000 blighted properties over the next five years. Parts of the "Beyond Blight: City of Flint Blight Elimination Framework" plan is already underway. The total cost of the effort is expected to be more than $107 million.

In a news release, Flint Mayor Dayne Walling said "Flint is a city in transition and we have been struggling with blight for many years." He added "by being strategic with all of our collective resources, we are going to win the war against blight."

Some of the benchmarks in the new framework include the removal of 71,000 tons of garbage; board 5,000 vacant structures; demolish 5,500 vacant and blighted properties; mow almost 20,000 properties annually and reuse of 5,000 vacant lots. The city will also attempt to bring 95% of properties into compliance with local codes.