BATON ROUGE - On Wednesday, the EBR Metro Council voted to move forward with condemning a Longfellow Drive property, which drew attention from residents as the site fell into decline. 

In early January, BRPD responded to a homicide near the building. In mid-January, the property caught fire. The Baton Rouge Fire Department ruled it arson at the time but a suspect has yet to be identified.

In February, the site was up for emergency condemnation, but District 10 EBR Metro Council member Carolyn Coleman objected to a motion to waive the rules and the item was never heard. 

The property is owned by CEG Inc., which is a Collis Temple property located in District Five.

In mid-March, in a letter from Collis Temple to Mayor-President Sid Edwards, the parish attorney’s office and director of development, Temple requested the city-parish halt condemnation efforts to give time to collect insurance claims. 

At the March 26 meeting, the Longfellow Drive property was back on the agenda on the condemnation list. 

"This is the final order. It goes through, once condemned, it goes back into the department that handles condemnations. There's a ten day waiting period to see whether it'll be appealed through district court,” EBR Metro Council District 1 Mayor Pro-Tem Brandon Noel said. 

Once that time passes, the city-parish cuts off utilities and puts it on a list to be torn down. 

WBRZ attempted to speak to Coleman about the property, but she declined to speak on the Longfellow property and said it was not on the agenda. However, when WBRZ pointed out the agenda item, she seemed surprised, and called the Director of Development to find out whether the city-parish received any documentation to halt the condemnation efforts. 

EBR City-Parish Communication Director Falon Brown confirmed the development department never received any paperwork or documentation to stop the condemnation. 

Properties that make it into the condemnation list can still get taken off. 

"Should the councilperson whose district it's in bring it to the council to rescind, it'll be heard as long as it's not too far in the process. It can be pulled and rescinded, it's a little bit more of a process and there's a fee to do so,” Noel said.