An anti-blight ordinance passed by Ansonia Aldermen in April has evoked comparisons to Godzilla, but the case of a Highland Terrace property resolved Tuesday (Aug. 5) showed that in at least some instances, the city need not leave Tokyo in ruins.
Background
The law, approved unanimously by Aldermen in April, beefed up blight regulations already on the books with a “clean and lien“ program that gives the city the ability to clean up properties after giving owners fair warning and a chance to clean them up on their own.
The city then tries to recoup the costs for a cleanup by placing a lien on the property.
The city also has the ability to levy blight fines against properties of $100 per day for 30 days, and $250 per day thereafter.
But the fines are hard to collect if owners abandon properties, or challenge them later in court.
Officials say the new law provides more flexibility in dealing with blight, which, in a city like Ansonia, where empty factories fill dozens of acres downtown, will be a front-burner issue for some time to come.
“Time is right for Spring cleaning so we are about to unleash, well, (what) we hope to be the Godzilla of anti-blight programs,” the minutes of an April 18 Aldermen’s meeting quote John Marini, the city’s corporation counsel, as telling the board.
Basically, the ordinance works like this:
- Neighbors complain to the blight officer.
- The blight officer looks at the property.
- The blight officer logs it as blight, if he thinks it is blight, after which the property owner has three days to deal with the issue.
- If the problem persists after three days, the blight officer sends a notice of violation explaining the problem and potential penalties (fines and/or “clean and lien”).
- The property owner can challenge the city by filing an appeal to a “blight appeal officer” appointed by Mayor David Cassetti. The property owner can explain his or her case, the blight officer can explain his, and the blight appeal officer can determine whether it’s blight and decide on a “corrective action plan.” The property owner can appeal this decision to civil court.
- If the problem persists after 10 days with no contact from the property owner, the city has the option to levy fines and consider hiring a landscaper/cleaner for a “clean and lien” (the city has a rotating list of companies to use).
Neighbors Helping Neighbors
One property owner cited for blight, Michael Valentino, of Highland Terrace, made his case to hearing officer Joseph Jaumann, a local lawyer, at City Hall Tuesday (Aug. 5).
David Blackwell Sr., the city’s blight and zoning enforcement officer, told Jaumann he received a complaint about overgrown shrubbery, grass, and trash at Valentino’s property and went out to take pictures.
But after citing Valentino, a group of his neighbors led by Cindy Conklin, who attended Tuesday’s hearing, and Jeff Westine helped him clean up the property.
Blackwell showed Jaumann “before and after” pictures before summing up the case.
“So at this time, the way I feel is all the neighbors came in and pitched in and helped this guy out, which I find pretty admirable,” Blackwell said. “I believe at this time there is no blight.”
Click the play button on the video above to see Blackwell present the case to Jaumann.
Jaumann eventually dismissed the matter.
Valentino said he was grateful for the help he got.
“If it wasn’t for the neighbors, I would have been sunk,” he said.
But he added he wished whoever had made the complaint in the first place just asked him to clean it up.
“That’s not being a good neighbor,” he said. “There’s other ways of going about this … I’m kind of shocked.”
Blackwell wasn’t. “I answer between 14 and 20 calls a day,” he told Valentino.
Article continues after video of Valentino, Blackwell, and Jaumann.
After the hearing, Valentino, an Ansonia resident since 2001, again said he was grateful to his neighbors.
“I’ll be the first one to admit it didn’t look good, but I’m a single guy, I have to work to pay bills, I don’t get to sit at home,” he said.
Conklin was glad to see some neighborhood spirit alive and well.
“All the neighbors pitched in,” she said of the cleanup. “It’s really nice to see. It was like an army this weekend, for days, non-stop work.”
Is This The Norm?
Jaumann, one of two blight hearing officers for the city, along with Keith Murray, another local lawyer, said he’s been hearing cases since June and none have been “too contentious.”
“(The ordinance) gives a lot of flexibility to give people extra time to get things cleaned up,” he said. “And for the most part, once people see something in writing, they’ll clean it up before you see them. It seems to be working.”
Marini, the city’s corporation counsel, said most cases aren’t as easy to resolve as Valentino’s.
“Most of the time they (property owners) dispute the finding there was blight,” he said. “If it’s made clear by the blight officer that it is blight, there’s a dispute over how much time is reasonable to clean it up.”
He said the ordinance gives officials a number of tools to combat blight.
“There’s a lot of flexibility there,” he said. “The big thing is there’s (also) an ability to draw the line and actually get results.”
He said the city is sensitive to concerns like those aired by Valentino Tuesday, but “people have a right to complain.”
“The process is there for a reason, because there are blighted properties, and every resident has the right to call in the blight officer,” he said.
“But of course it doesn’t mean the blight officer is going to make a finding there is blight,” Marini went on. “We know full well that our blight officer may become an unwitting pawn in a grudge match between two neighbors. But just because the blight officer is called out to inspect does not mean he’s going to find someone in violation. He has to make a judgment himself.”
