City Continues its Fight on Blight
By Robin Vinci | Editor at July 9, 2024 | 6:00 pm | Print
The City has stepped up efforts to help prevent blight with its Anti-Blight Task Force.
“We target certain areas of town we get complaints from,” said Mayor Erin Stewart.
People such as Attorney Steve Lesko, from the state’s attorney’s office who deals with housing and court matters; the police department, who target areas where grass is overgrown; the Mayor’s office, who deals with complaints that are called in from neighbors; health inspectors, the department of municipal development and planning and zoning meet every other week to discuss areas of concern.
“It is a great cohesive way to bring everybody together that deals with blighted properties,” said Stewart. “We peg different areas such as Tremont Street and the area around Silver and Gold Streets.”
Teams of three, including an inspector and a police officer, to go out to targeted properties before any action takes place to give warnings or tickets.
Some of the properties that have been found to be blighted are historic properties. These owners do not always know what their rights are as property owners, said Stewart. Many of these properties are so far gone that they are a money pit and owners do not want anything to with them.
When someone own a historic home anything they choose to fix has to be done a certain way. Owners need to maintain a certain look and feel of the building from the era it was built.
The City is informing these property owners that there are a lot of opportunities to get grant money to fix the properties. There is financing through the state historic conservation office and through the historical commission.
“We are working with those owners to navigate the laws they are not familiar with,” Stewart added. “When we announced the task force people started calling in and now we can respond to those requests.”
Stewart said the phone calls are a big help as officials do not have time to go around the City looking for blighted properties.
“Resident feedback helps us target where to go next,” Stewart said. “Complaints are handled based on past history.”
If a complaint is made and the property owner is on vacation and could not cut their grass, the City gives them a written warning. Banked owned properties are more difficult to navigate.
“We are trying to make a tracking system to see what bank owns what properties,” said Stewart. “There are properties that are caught in probate court and there is nothing we can do. We take it on a case by case basis.”
A home that has an 85 year old woman for example, who cannot mow her lawn, will not be given a ticket. Instead the City will help inform the woman on how to get her lawn mowed at a low cost.
“We help the people we know are struggling but we have no tolerance for the ones that have a blatant disregard for our ordinances,” said Stewart. “Everyone deserves to live in a clean community.”
Last month the City targeted an area around East Street and in the future will look at an area around Walnut Hill Park.
“There are some people who violate the law, do not take care of their property and just don’t care,” added Stewart. “They have been in violation time and time again. Those are the people we are not just giving warnings to and instead are issuing tickets immediately. It’s not just high grass, but unregistered motor vehicles in the back yard, chop shops and car parts and trash everywhere.”
The City will no longer allow these homes to be left as is.
“If you are going to live in New Britain you need to take care of your property because nobody wants to look at your garbage and there are proper ways to dispose of things,” concluded Stewart. “There are ample resources available.”
