Code Enforcement Officers Under Fire
Town of Alden: ALDEN HEARING TO AIR MISCONDUCT ALLEGATIONS
Town of Dansville: RESIDENTS AIR COMPLAINTS ABOUT DANSVILLE TOWN CODES OFFICER
Town of Alden: ALDEN HEARING TO AIR MISCONDUCT ALLEGATIONS
Town of Dansville: RESIDENTS AIR COMPLAINTS ABOUT DANSVILLE TOWN CODES OFFICER
GV PLANNING TO STEP UP PROPERTY MAINTENANCE ENFORCEMENT:
Town residents who won't clean up their properties could find themselves in court.Code Enforcement Officer Jeffrey Ramsten told town board members Monday that he is studying property maintenance enforcement procedures, assembling forms for complainants and violators and will be participating in an upcoming workshop on the topic.
Supervisor Dan Brown said he also plans to take the workshop.
"There are several people in the town that have property that needs to be cleaned up. We want to do something about that," said Brown. "Jeff will have some complaints that will go before the judges. I'd like the town board to back him up on that."
Seems like I see this same article about 50 times a year in various towns around the state.
Wendy and Ken Tyler of Broadalbin moved to County Highway 122 in Meco in July with their two horses.Since then, neighbors have been trying to get the horses off the property.
The controversy has gone beyond feuding neighbors. It’s resulted in complaints to town government and the firing of the town code enforcement officer.
On Oct. 16, Todd Stoller, a neighbor of the Tylers, complained about the two horses across from his house at a Town Board meeting. He asked the board to force the Tylers to get rid of the horses.
He said the horses are on a lot that’s too small — less than an acre — and complained about the smell of manure. He said he’s also concerned about the horses attracting rats and contaminating wells with manure runoff.
Stoller demanded the town code enforcer cite the owners.
Then-Code Enforcement Officer John Licciardo, saying the horses are legal, refused to cite the Tylers after the board ordered him to issue a ticket. He subsequently was fired by the Town Board Oct. 25.
“I don’t write false citations. According to town code, it is permissible to have horses there,” Licciardo said. “From my point of view, there is no issue at all.”
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Section 84-20 states no one shall use land for the stabling of horses or ponies unless a permit has been obtained. The town clerk may issue a permit, but not until she has received a written application from the applicant and approval by the town building inspector and town health officer, according to the code.Town code also states no animal may be housed or stabled and no manure stockpiled within 100 feet from any highway, lake, stream or property line. The horses must be properly fenced in or leashed at all times on the property. There must be no offensive fumes, odors or vermin or conditions otherwise detrimental to the public’s health or safety, the code says.
Licciardo said he determined there were no violations. He said the town health officer also inspected the property and found no violations.
Town Health Officer Arthur Brelia declined to comment, saying he is waiting for a formal decision in the matter.
Town code Section 84-8 states the area is designated an R-2 residence district, which permits accessory buildings. Section 84-17 says accessory buildings may include a stable, which must be 50 feet from the side or rear property line.
Wendy Tyler said there is no justifiable reason for the Town Board and neighbors’ complaints. She said she asked for and received a stable-building permit from the code enforcement officer.
LAW CHANGE SOUGHT IN WHITESTOWN AFTER 75 RV NOTICES ISSUED:
Whitestown's codes enforcement officer issued a flurry of notices to residents last month, telling them they were violating the town's recreational equipment ordinance.People were shocked, and many of them called their town councilmen.
The officer, Phil Husted, had issued 75 notices in a month — more than he'd ever issued in one sweep before. And that's how Husted succeeded in proving his point to the Town Board: The ordinance was ambiguous, and too strict.
"Most people didn't know about the law," he said. "I had to convince the Town Board to amend it."
The current zoning ordinance, passed in 2000, says people may only park one trailer or RV on their property, regardless of how many acres they have, Husted said. The ordinance also says people cannot park trailers or campers anywhere in their front yard, including in the driveway.
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The town passed the ordinance six years ago after receiving complaints from residents regarding a 33-foot camper parked in a 35-foot driveway.The new law, as drafted, would allow residents with more than one acre of land to park multiple campers or trailers on their property. Residents with smaller properties would have to apply for special zoning permits to keep more than one trailer or RV.
The new law would also allow residents to park campers or trailers in their driveway, provided the vehicles are not too close to the road and do not affect neighbors' visibility.
BUILDING INSPECTORS ARE IN A JAMB:
Town building inspector Joe Mlcoch can't remember the last time he conducted a fire inspection of businesses or multifamily dwellings.He's also about six months behind on inspections of places of public assembly, such as churches, theaters and restaurants.
The problem facing Mlcoch, who wears a trio of hats — building inspector, fire inspector and code enforcement officer — is not uncommon in the Hudson Valley's booming towns, where municipal staffing has lagged while development has boomed.
A kosher market that opened here recently isn't, well, kosher, says the Town of Blooming Grove.The town sought an injunction yesterday to close the Orange Kosher Market, which it says was built and opened illegally. No decision was reached yesterday in state Supreme Court, and the parties will return to court next week, Supervisor Charles Bohan said.
The controversy began late last year, when the two-story building on Route 17M that houses the market was under construction. A stop-work order was issued Sept. 22 because Building Inspector Jeanne Ovensen said builders failed to put windows on the second floor. Construction continued despite the order.
Once the building was completed, the town didn't issue a certificate of occupancy, Bohan said. But the market opened anyway and is in full swing with produce and food products lining the shelves and customers coming in and out.
"We have no problem with someone opening a business," Bohan said. "But they have to do it the right way."
Those on the side of the market aren't saying much. Employees at the market yesterday and Wednesday referred questions to the manager, who was not present.
The market's attorney, Alan Lipman of Goshen, also wouldn't speak about the conflict, although he did seek to explain why his clients wouldn't comment on the subject.
"There is a story, but not one that can be told at this time," he said. "People of my faith have to have great patience. We wait and we wait and we wait."
Then why couldn't your clients wait to finish construction until the building met code?
CHEMUNG BEGINS CLEANUP OF DUMPSITE:
A drive down little-used Old River Road in the town of Chemung used to reveal a staggering array of junk piled on either side of the road.Now, after 15 years of battling with the owner of an unlicensed junkyard over the debris, the town of Chemung has won at least one victory in an effort to clean up the area.
I wrote in this space a month ago about the town's long war with Joseph Carnrike over the junkyard he continues to operate, even though it hasn't had a permit for years.
At issue were piles of debris -- old appliances, automotive parts, vehicles, building material, oil drums, scrap metal and other items -- that not only crowded the county-owned road but also sat dangerously close to the Chemung River.
With the help of a private contractor, Chemung County, Cornell Cooperative Extension and the private group River Watch, the town recently took the first step in cleaning up the mess.
Because the county owns the right-of-way on either side of the road, they didn't need anyone's permission to remove junk from that portion.
Chemung Town Supervisor George Richter struck a deal with a recycling contractor, Upstate Machinery of Tioga Center, N.Y., to do the cleanup work at no cost to taxpayers.
The contractors figured they would be able to recover enough scrap metal to sell to offset their costs, Richter said.
It recently took a small army working all day to clean up the highway right-of-way, where the mess was even more extensive than anyone thought, Richter said.
"We were impressed by the amount of debris that really was there," Richter said.
"The contractor sent 60 tons of demolition and construction waste to the Chemung landfill, not to mention a couple hundred tires that have not been recycled.
BODY SHOP OR JUNKYARD? JUDGE TO DECIDE:
Junked vehicles surrounding a body shop on Upper Front Street are the subject of an ongoing dispute between the Town of Chenango and the property owner who is scheduled to go to trial in town court Wednesday.The cars, routinely parked around John's Body Shop at the intersection of Route 12 and Route 12A, are a hazard and an eyesore, said code enforcement officer Dennis Cavanaugh. He cited the business, operated by the Chordas family, for operating a junkyard without property qualifications.
The outcome of the case could resonate with anybody who drives by the large pink and purple building at the busy intersection. It is also at the root of a larger public issue of when junk is considered junk, and when it is illegal to have it on private property.
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Junkyards are typically governed by local ordinances that tend to vary in stringency and enforcement from one town to the next. In addition, state environmental regulations require junkyard operators to remove and inventory all fluids -- including antifreeze, oil, gas and transmission fluids -- from cars, properly dispose of tires and report any spills.Junk vehicles can contaminate groundwater and pose other hazards if rules aren't followed.
Here's a moderately interesting story, GROTON HOUSE OWNER GOES TO COURT TO SAVE DWELLING, taken up a notch by the accompanying picture. Thousand words, indeed.
GV ADOPTS LAW PROVIDING FOR CODE ENFORCEMENT:
Great Valley officials will have the power to enforce their zoning code after the town council acted last week to adopt a new law. ... Members of the council learned in march that the previous law, providing for administration and enforcement of the New York State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building code, was invalid.Charles Bliss, a senior building construction engineer with the New York State Department of State Division of Code Enforcement Southern Tier Regional Office told board members last that their previous local law was "not a legal law. The law simply states the town is adopting the New York State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code. It contains none of the required provisions of 19 NYCRR 1203. The town has no compliance with 19 NYCRR 1203. As a consequence, the town does not have the authority to require building permits, perform inspections, or otherwise enforce the code."
After Bliss observed the omission left the town vulnerable to liability, council members acted quickly, asking Town Attorney Ron Ploetz to draft a new law.
The new law provides for the code enforcement officer to act as building [inspector] and gives that office power to issue appearance tickets.
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At the advice of Bliss, the law requires that the code enforcement officer's records be kept at the town hall where they are accessible to the public. The records had been kept at code Enforcement Officer James Woodmancy' residence.
OWNER ANSWERS $100,000 FINE WITH LAWSUIT:
The landowner who was fined $100,000 by the Town Board for clear-cutting 224 trees and violating numerous zoning laws has fired back with a lawsuit.Keith Van Buskirk, president of Sinzibukwud Inc., accused the town of disregarding its own laws and infringing on his rights to due process when the board imposed the fine at its Feb. 13 meeting.
Town officials found the company guilty of logging without a permit when it cleared a section of land with views of Lake George in November 2004. Van Buskirk owns 1,450 acres off of Route 9N, near Exit 21 of the Northway. The land sits in Luzerne, Lake George and Warrensburg.
Supervisor Lou Tessier said the logging caused damage to West Brook, which runs into the lake. Town Board members said in February they would cut the fine in half if Van Buskirk fixed the washouts that caused erosion to the brook.
Van Buskirk denies he did any damage to the property and called the fine outrageous.
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The lawsuit cites town law in refuting the clear-cutting charge. Loggers are barred from cutting down more than half of trees that are six inches in diameter four to five feet up their trunks, over an entire area. While the town said Sinzibukwud cut down too many trees over a two-acre area, the lawsuit says the total area logged was 50 acres -- reducing the percentage of trees felled.The suit also claims the fine should be dropped because the town didn't notify Van Buskirk or his lawyer of the Feb. 13 meeting.
The lawsuit, filed in Warren County state Supreme Court, demands the resolution be annulled. The company also seeks repayment from the town for legal costs.