An 11-page ordinance slated Wednesday by Oxford Selectmen for a public hearing this month would give officials the power to levy daily fines of $100 per violation on owners of blighted properties.
Property owners would first receive a warning giving them 30 days to fix problems, according to the proposed ordinance, before fines would be imposed.
“It’s nothing we’re looking to make money on,” First Selectman George Temple said Wednesday while discussing the proposal at the Selectmen’s monthly meeting. “We will try to be as user-friendly as possible, but firm.”
The ordinance would target, among other things, abandoned vehicles, junk, overgrown grass, and dilapidated buildings. Temple said that while acting as town attorney for Seymour, that town enacted a similar ordinance that led to “tremendously positive” results.
He said that while the town could use its zoning regulations to target problem properties, doing so would take more time, especially when dealing with recalcitrant property owners who could use hearings and appeals to delay the process and force the town to incur legal fees.
“It winds up costing the town a lot of money,” Temple said with regard to using zoning regulations to target blight.
Under the new ordinance, a property owner can request a hearing within 10 days of receiving a citation. A hearing would then be held within 30 days before three town residents appointed by the First Selectman.
In bringing forward the measure, Temple said he thinks it still needs work.
“I know this ordinance is not perfect,” he said. “That’s why I want to have a public hearing … I also want to hear whether people are for or against it.”
Selectman Dave McKane endorsed the concept of the new law but asked Temple to solicit input from municipalities with similar ordinances on the books already.
“I’m not opposed to some properties being cleaned up,” he said, adding, “I would like to see if we could get some correspondence from other towns have have a blight ordinance to see how successful it is and what costs are involved.”
Temple, McKane, and Selectman Jeffrey Haney voted unanimously Wednesday to hold a public hearing on the proposed blight ordinance Feb. 13.
Temple said the ultimate goal is a law “that works, isn’t oppressive, and gets the job done.”
“I’m not setting out to create a hardship for people,” he said. “We all have a responsibility to everybody else to maintain our property in an acceptable aesthetic manner.”
