Now that a South Rome eyesore has been eliminated during a training blaze conducted by the Rome Floyd County Fire Department, South Rome Redevelopment Director Melissa Jones wants to have the debris removed from sight as rapidly as possible.

Jones told the South Rome Redevelopment boards Tuesday night that city officials told her the South Rome groups would be responsible for the cleanup after the fire department burned the home at 17 Etowah Terrace on Nov. 14.

“We don’t want to leave it in the condition it is in now,” Jones said.

(Added Nov. 21: Deputy Fire Chief Benny Bohannon said property owners who donate a house for firefighter training get to take a tax write-off for the building, but they retain their ownership of and responsibility for the property.)

Jones also reported that a quick market study has determined the South Rome boards should focus on future development of multi-family type residential dwellings on a number of properties that it owns across the community.

“The study indicated we don’t want another large development like the (Mercy Housing) Etowah Terrace development, but duplex type, or large homes with interior hallways,” Jones said.

Joe Montgomery, chief advancement office at the Darlington School, has agreed to chair a feasibility study committee in advance of a major fundraising campaign for the South Rome Redevelopment Corporation’s educational partnership with Rome City Schools.

Several months ago Dr. Paul Ferguson, who chairs the South Rome Redevelopment Agency, reported that it could cost as much as a half-million dollars annually to finance a pre-school and adult literacy campaign that will be housed in the new Anna K. Davie Elementary School.

Montgomery said he could not direct the fundraising effort for the South Rome project because it could create a conflict with his fundraising efforts for Darlington, however, Montgomery did agree to chair the feasibility study segment of that effort.