A Brannon Hill residents holds a sign during a recent town hall meeting. Photo by: Dyana Bagby

After months of pressure from residents and members of the community, DeKalb County is taking steps to clean up the Brannon Hill Condominium Complex.

Brannon Hill Condominium Complex residents in DeKalb County are desperate for help in cleaning up their Clarkston neighborhood where burned out buildings, piles of trash and debris, open drug deals and violence have been the norm for many years. Commissioner Sharon Barnes Sutton faced tough questions about the situation at a town hall meeting in December.

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According to a Jan. 26 press release, “The DeKalb County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the filing of a lawsuit which would allow DeKalb County to utilize county resources to remove debris from the privately-owned common areas in the Brannon Hill Condominium Complex.”

Sutton had said cleaning up Brannon Hill would be a complex issue.

“Our impediment to rectifying the situation at Brannon Hill Condominiums is that all of the conditions exist on private property. This lawsuit, if approved, gives us the legal authority we need to get to work,” Sutton said in the press release. “Our collective success in reaching this consensus is transformative leadership which required vision and the cooperative commitment of many individuals working towards a common purpose.”

According to the press release, the lawsuit asks a judge to declare common areas of Brannon Hill to be a public nuisance and asks for the authority to remove trash and debris.

“This includes but is not limited to rubbish, commercial debris, laundry waste, garbage in standing water; tire piles and other waste conducive to attracting mosquitoes, rats and flies,” the press release says. “Other actions include cutting and clearing overgrowth and taking steps necessary to control the spread of rats, feral cats, insects and other harmful animals. The complaint also requests that the condominium association reimburse the county for abatement.”

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