At Monday’s Atlanta City Council meeting, the council members proposed a resolution to use city funds to buy up blighted and condemned properties in the city as part of a bid to boost development and solve community issues.

This move comes less than a month after the council passed their plan to levy additional taxes on the owners of blighted properties.

The resolution urges Mayor Andre Dickens to use eminent domain to fight consistent blight in the city.

Eminent domain is when a government entity takes over private property for public use and compensates the owner.

Councilman Michael Julian Bond said the measure shows that the city of Atlanta is serious about cleaning up neighborhoods.

Larger properties would also have to have owners agree to and provide detailed redevelopment plans, which Atlanta officials said would need to be related to connectivity, transportation and public amenities in the neighborhoods they’re located in.

Council members Andrea L. Boone and Antonio Lewis’ proposal to have Atlanta buy the problematic properties by using what’s known as eminent domain to handle properties that officials say “hinder” enacting neighborhood plans, development projects and revitalization efforts.

With the exception of council members Michael Julian Bond and Mary Norwood, the proposal passed the Public Safety and Legal Administration Committee unanimously. Bond and Norwood were absent from the meeting. All of the council members present at the committee voted in favor of the resolution.

If approved, a blight condemnation program could be launched within six months. The city council recently passed an ordinance imposing a massive blight tax on owners who let properties sit neglected.