Safeguard Properties - Oscoda Vacant Blight Ordinance

Oscoda Vacant Blight Ordinance

Wednesday, 07 March 2007

The Oscoda Township Board of Trustees has taken the first step to amend an ordinance to more clearly define penalties for code violators.

Also bundled into the proposed ordinance were several typing corrections, as well as an abatement procedure the township would follow in case a property needs to be cleaned up by the township.
According to Superintendent Robert Stalker, the changes are necessary in the crusade to eliminate blight in Oscoda. Stalker said the changes will make it easier for the code enforcement officer to do his job.

"These changes are the result of some misprints and clarifications of procedures," he said.

Under chapter one of the ordinance, a set of clear guidelines was set forth in the event the code enforcement officer chooses to cite a code offender with a misdemeanor, also subjecting that responsible person/party to a maximum $100 fine, 90-day jail sentence, plus reimbursement for all expenses.

Expense responsibilities for the offender were included in the ordinance, but were not limited to, attorney fees, reimbursement for the cost of township personnel and reimbursement for witness fees.

The ordinance would also allow seizure of offending personal property, to be held in appropriate storage; for example, an automobile sitting in someone's yard, in violation of the junk car ordinance.

The ordinance also allows that, if blight is not voluntary cleaned up by a violator, the township would be empowered to take necessary steps to abate the problem at the owner's expense.

Stalker said that the ordinance will just clarify and outline specific things that the township's code enforcement officer, Raymond Staley, has been doing all along.

The board is expected to adopt the changes at its next meeting on March 19.

To view the online article, please click here.