Cracking down on home upkeep

Officials say they are being proactive.
BOARDMAN -- Township zoning officials are looking to spruce up the community by making residents with property maintenance violations get their acts and property together.
Township zoning officials have issued a dozen citations for property maintenance violations under home rule authority in the last week. Zoning inspector Darren Crivelli said at least 12 more citations will be going out in the mail next week.
Crivelli said officials are looking for garbage and junk in yards, houses that need paint, garage or roof damage, bad fencing, and broken windows and doors. He said that zoning officials look for violations but that most are received via complaint from neighbors.
Once a complaint is received, Crivelli said, the homeowner in violation of property maintenance standards is sent a letter asking that the problem be corrected. Property owners are given 30 days after the initial letter is sent before a citation is issued. Those cited in the last two weeks have ignored the initial letter.
Fines
The first home rule property maintenance violation comes with a fine of $250 payable in 14 days. But, according to Crivelli, if property owners fix the problem within 14 days of receiving the citation, the township will waive the fine.
"We are not using home rule maintenance as a revenue maker," said Crivelli. "We don't really want to have to cite people; that is $250 that could be put toward correcting the problem. Even after we issue a citation we are still willing to work with people."
If the first citation is ignored, a second citation will cost a homeowner $500. A third citation will cost $750, and the fourth citation will cost $1,000. The township has at least two homeowners headed for a second citation.
Crivelli said the citations are not representative of any area or group but spread out across the township. He said about half of the properties cited were rentals and the other half owner-occupied.
"It's not like it's just one or two streets," he said. "Most are pretty random around the township. It's a real cross section of people."
Stepping up enforcement
This is the third summer for enforcement of home rule property maintenance guidelines. Crivelli said bad weather has somewhat slowed the process, but with assistant zoning inspector Pete Ross' being added to the department, officials are looking to be more proactive.
We are issuing more citations this year than ever," he said. "We've got some problems here and we are trying to resolve them."
jgoodwin@vindy.com