Blight Ordinance Taking Effect

Per a vote at the September 27 Annual Town Meeting, a blight ordinance for North Haven will be put into effect beginning Saturday, October 22. 

Targeting any building or site that, in the words of the ordinance, "contributes to the decline of neighborhoods, and jeopardizes the health, safety, welfare, and/or quality of life of persons within the Town of North Haven," the new measure will seek to prevent dereliction in a variety of ways. 

Under the new scheme, an town-appointed Blight Prevention Officer will identify properties in need of repairs or upkeep, and inform the property owner that remedial efforts at the location must take place within thirty days.

The property owner will then have the option of contesting liability in the situation by bringing his or her case before the Blight Prevention Appeals Board.

Should the proprietor either ignore the citation or fail to prove lack of responsibility at the hearing, a judgement will be entered against him or her.

The full details of the ordinance can be read here.

Blighted conditions may consist of:

• Multiple missing, broken or boarded up windows and/or doors
• Damaged or missing siding
• Infestation by rodents or other pests
• Excessive amounts of garbage or trash on the property
• More than one inoperative or unregistered motor vehicles or visibly inoperative boats parked, kept, not garaged in a permanent structure on the property
• Commercial parking lots left in a state of disrepair or abandonment
• Overgrown brush, overgrown grass, and/or weeds of at least one foot in height, excluding ornamental grass as part of a landscaped property
• Graffiti

What are your thoughts on the ordinance? Tell us in the comments and vote in our poll.