Court to Austintown resident: Clean up your blighted property

By Elise Franco

efranco@vindy.com

Austintown

The township zoning department took legal action against a resident who refused to clean up his property — and won.

Zoning Inspector Darren Crivelli said Robert Elko has 90 days to remove the garbage, large appliances and vehicles from his vacant property at 3816 Kirk Road.

Crivelli said Elko is due back in court Oct. 6 for a sentencing hearing.

If he hasn’t complied with the order, handed down by Judge Lou A. D’Apolito of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, the court could implement a fine of $500 per day retroactive to the date the case was filed in December 2009.

Elko, who resides at a home on Selkirk Avenue, didn’t return calls for comment.

“We’ve been getting complaints for years,” Crivelli said. “The place is just a mess. Basically it’s not a house you’d want next door to you.”

He said Elko was issued a notice in September 2009 about large amounts of debris on the property, including aluminum cans, a pick-up truck and a dishwasher.

He was issued a notice in October 2009 to remove a backhoe that was left in the yard, which Crivelli said is also in violation of the township’s zoning laws.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.