DARIEN, CT — The Darien Representative Town Meeting last week voted to amend the town’s blight ordinance and extend it to cover commercial properties, in addition to residential. The vote was 69 in favor with two abstentions.
Those in violation of the ordinance will be subjected to a $100 fine per day, and potential liens for continued noncompliance.
Last November during a discussion between the Darien Board of Selectmen on the ordinance amendment, Selectman Michael Burke, who is also a member of the town’s Blight Review Board, said the idea wasn’t to find a new revenue generator with the expansion of the ordinance.
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“It’s a way to solve these problems when they arise,” Burke said at the time.
While meeting to discuss the amendment change in recent weeks, Amy Zabetakis, chair of the RTM’s Planning, Zoning & Housing Committee, told the RTM last week that committee members had concerns that the fines levied on commercial properties were not higher than those being imposed on residential properties.
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While the committee supported the amendment change, Zabetakis said she’d recommend that the town’s Blight Review Board consider a change to the fee structure for commercial properties once they see how the ordinance is going to be applied.
The Blight Review Board’s role is “to define, regulate, prohibit and abate housing blight in order to protect, preserve, and promote public health, safety and welfare; and to maintain and preserve the beauty of neighborhoods and the general appearance of the town.”
According to the blight ordinance, a property may be deemed to be a blighted premises if it is: attracting illegal activity; a fire hazard; dilapidated and unsafe; or constitutes a threat to the general health, safety and welfare. There’s also another set of criteria that determines a blighted property.
Darien’s blight ordinance was adopted in October 2016.
George Reilly, chair of the Blight Review Board, said in a letter to the RTM earlier this month that residents have expressed interest in the town having jurisdiction over commercial properties which have fallen into disrepair.
“Typical examples of such properties have included vacant structures in various locations throughout Darien. Blight conditions include debris on the property, disrepair of the structures and overgrown vegetation,” Reilly said.
Reilly noted to the RTM last week that the amended blight ordinance would not go after commercial properties that are actively under construction.
Town attorney Wayne Fox researched the feasibility of extending the ordinance to commercial properties, and said that there’s not much case law on the topic, but that it was doable and would be supported by a court.
You can view last week’s full RTM meeting here.
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