ST. LANDRY PARISH, La. (KLFY) -- A property on South Market Street in Opelousas is the latest in a long line of adjudicated properties being demolished by St. Landry Parish government in a proactive approach to keep the parish beautiful.

Cynthia Fontenot, with St. Landry Parish Code Enforcement, said the demolition of parish-owned properties has been taking place for the better part of a year and has only continued to add up as residents continue to call and report properties in their neighborhoods.

"We've had great success. I mean, the communities, just the vast amount of people that's calling in or just see us at a site. I had a couple walk from round the corner this morning thanking us," Fontenot said.

The demolitions have typically been done on Fridays, but the parish has make some changes to its workflow to keep up with the growing list of properties.

This past Friday, they were in Eunice. Today, they're in Opelousas not only tearing down this property, but they've also already made progress in selling the property next door with more property still to follow later on this week.

"It's just such a large mass of properties. So now we're just trying to tackle them every day, as we always say, one property at a time," Fontenot said.

By speeding up their approach, Parish President Jessie Bellard said it can bring pride and opportunity to the parish if more properties are not only clean but also able to be sold once demolition is done.

"When you do this and clean up the property and the landowners have an opportunity to buy it and bring it back into commerce or just put it as your yard, it cleans up the area, then it makes people feel better about the area. It gives us a sense of pride, and we're hoping that that pride spreads out through the community," Bellard said.

While a lot of progress is being made, the work is still far from over. The parish government is looking closely at parish-owned properties all across St. Landry Parish to keep the demolition going.

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