New Blight Ordinance Will Streamline Enforcement, Officials Say
Southington will soon have a new blight ordinance on its books, if a text finalized by the Ordinance Committee receives approval from Town Council.
The definition of blight in the new text remain essentially unchanged. It divides cases of blight into five broad categories:
Structures that are in a serious state of disrepair, open to the elements, or in danger of collapse
Land with excessive amounts of trash on it, or inoperative vehicles or boats.
Land with overgrown grass or vegetation that hinders access to a property or interferes with sightlines
Commercial parking lots in a state of advanced disrepair
Graffiti
The ordinance also gives certain officials, such as the Police Chief, Fire Marshall, or Director of Health, leeway to declare properties blighted if they seriously degrade the health, safety, enjoyment, or property value of the neighboring premises.
What’s new about the text is the process of enforcement, which is shorter and somewhat more aggressive.
The official in charge of enforcement will normally be the town’s Zoning Enforcement Officer, a post currently held by Matt Reimondo.
The Zoning Enforcement officer will be able to initiate an investigation of a property upon receiving a written complaint.
In addition, under the new regulations, the officer will be free to conduct an investigation if he or she makes their own observation of a potential violation, or receives “credible information” of one.
Under the old policy, the process of enforcement could have as many as five steps: investigation, warning, appeal, notice of violation, fine.
The new policy trims that to four: investigation, appeal, notice of violation, fine. The ‘warning’ phase has been eliminated.
As with the old policy, any appeals will be heard by a Blight Hearing Officer who is appointed by the Town Manager and approved by Town Council.
But once the compliance period ends, if the violation has not been corrected, a fine of $150 per day is imposed – up from $100 per day under the old policy.
According to Committee Chair Tony Morrison, the new rules are intended to streamline the process, by making it easier for the officer to initiate an investigation, and move more efficiently towards a resolution.
At the August 20 meeting of the Ordinance Committee, Reimondo drew on his experience enforcing the current regulations to remind the committee that not all infractions are committed by bad actors.
Some, he noted, are residents who, for whatever reason, simply lack the financial or physical wherewithal to maintain their property or keep it up to code. Reimondo said that in those cases, it is more effective to work with the property owner and members of the community to ensure that steady progress towards remediation is being made.
The complete text of the proposed new ordinance can be read here: