Two hearings set on property maintenance code
CARLA SMITH
ThisWeek Staff Writer
Dates for the two hearings and readings
required for passage of a proposed property maintenance code (PMC) for
The first public hearing and reading will
take place at
"If they turn it down we will take it
to the ballot," Jan Pitts said. "I feel the township needs that extra
tool."
Pitts said there are a lot of township
residents who are ignoring zoning violation letters. The process as it is now,
she said, takes a long time.
"They need something to get these
people's attention so it doesn't take 20 years to get the problem
rectified," she said.
Once in place, the property maintenance
code will allow the township to crack down on derelict property owners. Only
those serious offenders of the zoning laws would be targeted, township
officials said.
The new code would allow an informal
process between the homeowner and the township to try to correct the problem
first. As it stands now, the township issues the resident a notice and then
goes to court.
"It's an informal process without
having attorneys and going to court," Trustee Joe Wharton said. "This
is an administrative tool, not an expansion of zoning."
Pitts said the township would definitely
benefit from having such a code in place.
"It gives us a way to work with
residents rather than taking them to court," she said. "Right now, we
don't have that opportunity."
Trustees once again answered questions from
residents about the PMC during a packed board meeting Oct. 27. Because all
three trustees need to vote in favor of the code for it to pass, one resident
wanted to know if all three were "for" or "against" the
code.
Both Wharton and trustee Teresa Keller said
they were proponents of the code while trustee Doug Stormont said he thought
residents should be the ones to decide.
"Even if this board doesn't pass it,
I'm predicting it will end up on the ballot one way or another," Wharton
said.
Resident Steve Kennedy, who was set and
ready to gather signatures, said he won't have to now. Residents are predicting
that trustees won't pass the PMC.
"If it's a 'no' vote then I'm done
with it," he said.
Kennedy served on a committee of five that
recently analyzed and improved a township PMC draft. At a special meeting prior
to the Oct. 27 board meeting, trustees took into consideration the committee's
findings and incorporated its suggestions within the code for the final
revision.
"After everything is said and done,
there still are some major issues," Kennedy said. "They did do some
things. They cleared up the outside storage issues and took away some
vagueness."
Kennedy still maintains that such a code in
place would be difficult to fairly administer to all residents.
"There is a world of difference
between a resident that lives in a housing development and one that lives on
rural property," he said. "There is no protection from an overzealous
inspector. The code is so vague no two people would interpret it the
same."
Trustees said the code wouldn't mean
additional employees to enforce it but Kennedy said he doesn't know how that
will be possible.
"The township currently has problems
enforcing laws against defiant residents and all this code is going to do is
add thousands of dollars to the township budget," Kennedy said.
Kennedy is quick to point out that
proponents of the code and the ones most vocal about getting it passed all sit
on the zoning board or zoning appeal board.
"These residents have every right to
voice their opinions at these meetings but it also should be known that they
have an interest in the zoning process in the township," he said.
Kennedy said he still feels that the
majority of residents don't want the township telling them when or how to
maintain their properties.
"For whatever reason the trustees
aren't listening to what the majority of residents are telling them,"
Kennedy said. "What the trustees need to remember is that two of them are
up for reelection next year and it was the majority of the residents that
elected them."