May 5, 2012

STATE HOUSE OKS BLIGHT CRACKDOWN
Legislation adds state fee to local penalty

By Paul Hughes, Republican-American

HARTFORD — The House voted Friday to increase the fines for property owners who refuse to clean up blighted properties.

Under current law, fines can range from $10 to $100 a day for certain violations of local anti-blight ordinances. The legislation propose to set an additional state fine of $250 a day for willful violations.

The bill also requires towns and cities to give property owners or occupants written notice of blight violations and a reasonable opportunity to remedy blighted conditions before any enforcement action is taken.

New owners and new occupants would be able to request a 30-day extension under the bill. If problems persist, towns and cities could take a property owner or tenant to housing court, where state prosecutors could seek to impose a $250 fine for every day the violations continue.

In these proceedings, municipalities must show based on daily inspections of a property that blighted conditions continued after owners or occupants were notified and given a chance to clean up.

The bill’s supporters said these provisions are intended to target property owners and tenants who willfully refused to clean up blight after being given the chance.

They also noted that a municipality must have adopted an ordinance that defines blight and provides cited parties an opportunity for a hearing.

The House approved the bill 129-13. The legislation still requires the approval of the Sen-ate and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to become law.

Blight is not a problem confined to the state’s cities and larger towns, said Rep. Jeffrey J. Berger, D-73rd District, House chairman of the Commerce Committee.

Advocates of the bill said blight lowers quality of life and property values in neighborhoods that it affects.

Berger said the economic downturn has worsened the blight problem in Waterbury and other cities that have been hardest hit.