JACKSONVILLE, Ark. — After the Jacksonville Criminal Nuisance Abatement board declared them a public nuisance for having several code violations, the Willow Bend Apartments might have to close their doors for good.
Residents who are currently living in the apartments arec oncerned on what will happen to them in the following days. Starr Pierre who has lived at Willow Bend Apartments for close to three years explained how it's a scary position to be in.
"We have children, we work, we care about our children, we care about our community. Many are having to pay for what few people are committing" Pierre added.
According to the Jacksonville Police Department (JPD), the criminal nuisance board declared Willow Bend Apartments to be a public nuisance and gave the property owners 90 days to address 13 issues, each of which was requested by the Jacksonville police to help lower crime.
"We have a lot of out-of-state owners, companies that buy these properties and manage them in order to get rent revenue, and they don't care about much else. So we're trying to hold the owners accountable," said Chief Brett Hibbs with JPD.
Chief Hibbs explained how crime is on the rise in that area. Most recently there was a homicide that happened at the apartments just last week.
"We have tried since August of last year to work with the owners of the property and the management. They're not working to clean anything up, there's also several code violations like mold, leaky water heaters, electrical issues, and I think about 70 violations that we found during inspection," Chief Hibbs said.
According to the police department there have been 2,084 calls to Willow Bend Apartments since 2022 that average about $254.00 per call, which amounts to $529,336.00 to the community.
"We're trying to help them either clean up the property or provide a safe environment, especially for the kids that live there but also help them find somewhere else to go if they need to," Chief Hibbs said.
He said they hope the property owners work to fix the issues but, in the meantime, it has left Pierre and others in the complex concerned.
"I'm very uncomfortable with this. I pay my rent on time, I pay my bills, I don't owe any money. Everyone says what they will about Willow Bend until you live here, and if you don't live in Willow Bend you don't know what it's like," Pierre said.
We reached out to the owners of Willow Bend and have not heard back yet. The property owners have about a month to appeal the board's decision in circuit court.