[04/18/02]Vicksburg officials are making initial contact with the owners of 20 parcels of downtown property they plan to buy before the end of the fiscal year.

City Planner Ronnie Bounds said letters of intent will go out to at least three property owners before the end of this week and that the city’s legal department is preparing to send out more in the next two weeks.

“As we get the titles in we’ll send out the letters,” Bounds said.

Plans are to purchase the lots as part of Vicksburg’s urban revitalization plan announced last fall.

In all, the city plans to acquire 48 properties over various sizes during the next 10 years and sell them to people who pledge to improve them.

Bounds said that the process of purchasing properties under the state law requires municipal governments to first notify the owners of the city’s intentions. An appraisal has to be done on the property and then a review appraisal by a separate appraiser before an offer is made.

The entire process takes about a month, Bounds said.

While some properties on the list do not meet city codes, others are needed for different purposes. Eventual buyers will be under contract to restore the property and use it in compliance with a downtown master plan.

Some of the properties are occupied, but Bounds said the city will allow many of them to continue to lease the building while improvements are made.

The city will also provide relocation assistance to businesses that have to move.

About $5.6 million of a $17.5 million bond issue will be spent on the plan.

Other plans in downtown include reopening all of Washington Street to two-way traffic and repaving the downtown section with bricks. That project which will begin in July will cost about $2.3 million.

Work on the parking lot at Crawford and Washington streets is expected to begin next month and will cost about $150,000.