Judge orders Brannon Hill complex to clean up trash

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. - A team of residents and volunteers worked to clean up piles of trash around the Brannon Hill Condominiums, after a Superior Court judge gave the homeowner's association a 30-day window to address the problem before DeKalb County could be granted permission to intervene. 

"It is not an easy fix. If it were easy, someone would have done it years ago," said Commissioner Sharon Barnes Sutton. "The county can't just come in and spend taxpayer money on private property," she said.

Sutton believes the county will eventually step in to clean up trash and fix common areas of the property that the judge declared "a public nuisance."

Piles of trash still remain around the complex, and sinkholes make some parts of roads impassable.

Abandoned buildings and other structures destroyed by fire still remain standing. Absentee landlords who have fled the state or the country are to blame for much of the disrepair, as well as a now-defunct previous homeowner's association.

Sutton told FOX 5 the newly-formed homeowner's association has remained cooperative and willing to implement changes.

Sutton said a new hearing will be set to review the measures done by the homeowner's association, before a judge could grant DeKalb County permission to intervene.