Natchez city officials took a gamble last year when they tried to use a process called demolition by neglect to force the owner of the antebellum mansion Arlington to repair and maintain the property.

Arlington used to be one of Natchez’s grand mansions but a number of years ago the property owner began neglecting it.

The structure was severely damaged by fire in the early 2000s. The Historic Natchez Foundation stepped up and put a new roof on the structure, which perhaps saved it from crumbling altogether. The owner did reimburse the foundation for the cost of the new roof.

The demolition by neglect process involved 150 days of notices and hearings in an attempt to get the owner to take corrective action or to face fines or tax liens on the property. Unfortunately, the owner never responded to any of the notices or hearings.

The 150-day process ended back in January and some eight months later, Arlington still sits abandoned, overgrown and deteriorating. The city is still trying to determine its next, best course of action.

As city planner Riccardo Giani points out, however, the United States has some of the best private property owner protections in the world.

As much as preservationists, historians and many residents would like to see the federal-style, suburban villa built in 1818 restored to its former glory, forcing the owner to do so would go against the inherent freedoms granted to property owners. However, enforcing the law is perfectly within the city’s purview.

We have hoped Arlington’s owner, Tom Vaughan of Jackson, whose family has owned Arlington since the 1920s, would come around and decide to do something with the property or entrust it to someone who could do something to preserve it before it is too late. It is apparent now that’s not going to happen.

Meanwhile, city officials have to weigh their options on whether to step in and put some weight behind the process or to let it slide. We urge the city to follow up on the process of legally taking control of the property with an eye toward selling it to an owner who will work to save the historic structure.

We hope a good resolution can be found before it is too late to rescue Arlington, if it is not too late already.