Officials in DeKalb County say they are increasing their efforts in code enforcement and compliance in the southern, unincorporated portion of the county.
The county’s CEO, Michael Thurmond, and several other officials met in Gresham Park Tuesday to demolish a blighted condominium within the Whitehall Forest neighborhood.
“This is number 602 ..mitigated and demolished blighted units in DeKalb county,” Thurmond said.
Construction workers on a pink track loader bulldozed what was once the Whitehall Forest Condominiums. The four-unit building, according to those familiar with the neighborhood, was set on fire in 2021.
The demolition was a way for DeKalb officials to address the backlog of code violations in South DeKalb. The backlog results from a “disjointed system,” according to DeKalb County Commissioner Larry Johnson.
But residents in the neighborhood, such as five year resident Richard Harper, felt that the demolition of the site “took too long.”
