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ORDINANCE
COMMITTEE MINUTES
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Any request for minutes prior to August 15, 2006
may be made directly to the Law Department
203-854-7750 |
CITY OF NORWALK
ORDINANCE COMMITTEE
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION SESSION
AND
MEETING
MAY 20, 2008
ATTENDANCE: Amanda Brown, Chair; Fred Bondi; Andrew Conroy;
Kelly Straniti
STAFF: Linda Guliuzza, Assistant City Attorney
OTHERS: Diane Cece; David Park; Laurel Lindstrom, Common Council
Ms. Brown called the meeting to order at 7:38 p.m.
ROLL CALL
Ms. Guliuzza called the Roll.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION SESSION:
Blight Ordinance Input
Ms. Brown asked those in attendance to keep their comments to three minutes.
Mr. David Park, Strawberry Hill Avenue stated that his intention is not to add unnecessary bureaucracy to the City Code. His argument is for the people living across the street from the old Fitch School. He said that he considers the condition of the site to be a public safety hazard. There has been vandalism to the exterior as well as the interior of the building. At one point, the attorney for the developer suggested that the City supply more police to patrol the property. Mr. Park said that he took offense to that comment.
Mr. Park said that a 15 year old was arrested for arson and a Weston resident detonated explosives on the property. He said that when he walked the property in January and saw that the rear of the property had become a dumping ground, he brought this to the attention of this Committee.
Ms. Diane Cece, Olmstead Place said that she had more questions than comments. She said that she felt there was enough jurisdiction and asked why they were looking for more enforcement. She said that if enforcement was not being done sufficiently, they should look at the root cause. Ms. Cece said that the only thing not covered in other enforcement groups is related to fines; other than that they were all covered.
Ms. Cece said that if there is a gray area at the site of the former Fitch School, it would be which group would enforce the regulations. She asked if other alternatives had been investigated and if other codes had been reviewed. She suggested soliciting feedback from other areas so they do not have to reinvent the wheel.
Ms. Cece said that she was opposed to a Blight Ordinance. She said that beauty was in the eyes of the beholder. If something is a health or fire hazard there is power to enforce those regulations; anonymous complaints can be tantamount to harassment and could be pressure from deep pocketed developers to designate an area as blighted.
Ms. Cece said this could be a solution looking for a problem. She asked if there were other properties, excluding Fitch School that could be considered blighted. Ms. Cece recommended letting the enforcement staff do their work with the proper staff.
The public participation session closed at 7:50 p.m.
ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES:
April 30, 2008
The following correction was made to the minutes:
Page 3, second paragraph, first sentence should read - Mr. Kimmel said that he hoped Chairwoman Brown had researched the Board of Education statures.
** MR. BONDI MOVED TO ACCEPT THE MINUTES AS CORRECTED
** MOTION PASSED WITH ONE (1) ABSTENTION (MR. CONROY)
OLD BUSINESS:
Discussion of Public Input re: Need for Blight Ordinance
Ms. Brown asked the Committee what they wanted to do about this. Ms. Straniti said that she was not in favor of moving forward on this and would vote against it. She said that it was not appropriate to create an ordinance for one property, although she was sympathetic. She said that this was an enforcement issue. There is already a system in place and anything beyond is an infringement of rights.
Ms. Straniti said that no one wants to look at broken windows or high grass, but it could be a timing issue, or a physical inability to care for the property.
Mr. Bondi agreed with Ms. Straniti and Ms. Cece. He said that since the last meeting, he spoke with some of the City departments and feels they have enough regulations. The biggest problem is enforcement. He said that the Health Department could cite them for the tall grass, but there could be a good reason that the grass has not been cut. Mr. Bondi said that everyone tries to keep their home and property nice. This is America and people can do what they want if they do it without hurting anyone. Mr. Bondi said that there was no reason to pursue this ordinance.
Ms. Brown said that she agreed. She said that every time Mr. Park recites the story she is shocked. She said that it is unbelievable; utility companies are terrible, they have pockets of property they do not care for. Ms. Brown said that she could not support this ordinance.
Ms. Lindstrom said that she was not in support of this ordinance. She went to the department meetings and listened to what they said. She said that there was no need for the ordinance; it could be covered with what was already on the books.
Ms. Lindstrom said that those who were least able to afford repairs would be hardest hit by the ordinance. She suggested that they work with the existing system and add staff.
** MS. STRANITI MOVED TO END THE DISCUSSION REGARDING THE NEED FOR A BLIGHT
ORDINANCE
** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
ADJOURNMENT
** MR. BONDI MOVED TO ADJOURN
** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
There was no further business and the meeting was unanimously adjourned at 8:05 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Rosemarie Lombardi
Telesco Secretarial Services
