Officer helps handle zoning issues

A detective started
accompanying the zoning inspector to problem
properties.

By DENISE DICK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

BOARDMAN — It starts with an anonymous letter or phone call to the township zoning office.

What follows is a series of letters, inspections and sometimes court action, trying to get a property owner to fix zoning and maintenance problems.

Some people are more receptive than others.

About a month ago, the zoning department sought reinforcements.

Police Detective Chuck Mound, in uniform and in a cruiser, accompanies Peter Ross, assistant zoning inspector, on his weekly rounds of offending properties.

Ross says it makes a difference. “Most people aren’t going to give me any argument now,” he said. “They give more attention to the problem rather than ‘Why are you picking on me?’”

Teaming with zoning personnel also gives Mound more comprehension of the issues facing another township department.

“I have more of an understanding of zoning and how it affects the quality of life here in Boardman,” the detective said.

Problems run the gamut from high grass to peeling paint to junk vehicles or debris on the property.

The correction process isn’t quick.

The process

When zoning gets a complaint, the first step is a visit to verify a violation.

Next comes a notice of violation, sent by certified mail, informing the owner of the problem and specifying a time frame for it to be fixed.

After that time elapses, office personnel return to determine if the issues have been addressed. If not, a second notice follows with a threat of court action.

If nothing’s done, a citation follows.

If convicted in court of a home-rule violation, the penalty is a $250 fine. A conviction for a zoning code violation such as junk vehicles on a property nets a fine of $500 per day.

Ross and Mound stressed that they aren’t unreasonable. If a person makes an effort to correct problems, they’ll work with them.

But some people know they’re in violation and make no effort to clean up their property, Mound said.

The duo visited four properties last week in various stages of the process.

A Ford van with no license plates and a flat tire sits in the driveway at the house on Basil Avenue. No one answered the door and the telephone number for the person to whom the property is listed has been disconnected.

The officials believe the house is vacant.

Second-story windows stand open and children’s bicycles lean against the garage, flanking a basketball hoop.

Green, stagnant water fills a children’s inflatable swimming pool in the backyard.

Township trustees declared the property a nuisance earlier this month because of the junk van and high grass. Nothing has changed since.

When a property owner can’t be located, the township hires contractors for cleanup then attaches a lien to the property for the cost.

Next on the list

Next stop was a house on Lynn Mar Drive called to zoning’s attention by an anonymous letter complaining of a boat parked in the driveway and trash piled near the garage.

Mound greeted a man in the driveway who said the homeowner is his girlfriend.

The boat on an unlicensed trailer must be addressed and unsightly debris including a tire, wooden pallet and truck cover have to go, the detective instructed.

“We don’t go around looking for it, so it’s affecting somebody’s quality of life because we got a letter about it,” Mound told the man.

Ross and Mound gave the man two weeks to fix the violations.

The man indicated he’d be able to meet that deadline.

A house on Afton Avenue hasn’t yet reached a point where the owner, a Poland woman, has been cited.

Work at the house indicates new siding and windows and an addition.

But a woman who lives nearby is tired of looking at the mess.

The neighbor, who wouldn’t give her name, said no one has lived in the house for at least two years and it’s been in disrepair for about six.

“I’ve lived here for 50 years,” she said. “I raised my kids here. It was a nice place to raise kids.”

She called zoning about high grass at the house, which had been cut by last week’s visit.