Everybody complains about the lack of housing in Watonga, but the city council, in conjunction with economic development agencies, is doing something about it.
When the council met Sept. 20 in regular session, it accepted the donation of two partial lots at 319 N. Weigle from the Christian Church. The intention is for the city, working through its own economic development agency, WEDA, and assisted by the Northern Oklahoma Development Agency, or NODA, to build a home on the lot.
The home would then be sold at a reasonable profit, and the money plowed back into the community to build another home. It is a model that has proved successful for Habitat for Humanity.
“And the lot has cost us nothing,” said council member Travis Bradt.
In a similar move to improve the quality of life in town and mitigate eyesores, there have been 19 municipal court cases on properties that the owners of record refuse to clean.
Previously, the city would often mow or otherwise keep up the property and billed the owners. That resulted in a pile of unpaid invoices and a large amount of employee time spent on derelict properties. Now code enforcement sends letters to the owners and if they remain unanswered and the property is not brought up to the code, the matter winds up in municipal court and the judge decides what should be done in the case, and who should foot the bill for the work.