New Norwalk blight ordinance sails through for approval

NORWALK, Conn. – A simple yet elegant solution allowed the Common Council to up the ante on Norwalk’s new blight ordinance, Council members said Tuesday as they congratulated Ordinance Committee Chairwoman Shannon O’Toole Giandurco (R-District D) for getting it through.

The newly revised blight ordinance, which applies to every property in the city, was unanimously approved. Taking out the word “housing” from the ordinance passed toward the end of the last Council session made it possible, Councilman David McCarthy (R-District E) said.

The ordinance will take affect Jan. 1, 2016.

“This is something that the Ordinance Committee has been working on since beginning of term and something that I really want to see get done,” O’Toole Giandurco said.

“As somebody who worked quite a bit in the last term on the original blight ordinance, I think this is a great improvement,” McCarthy said. “We were somewhat hemmed in. I mean it took us a long time to put the original ordinance together because it was a lot more contentious. We broke through that, but we intentionally used the word ‘housing’ because we were told that there wasn’t a state-enabling statute…. I think this is going to have big an impact as the original ordinance and it’s really going to allow the city to move forward.”

Councilwoman Phaedrel “Faye” Bowman (D-District B) expressed some concern about the prohibition against more than one unregistered or inoperative vehicle but was told that there’s already an ordinance on the city’s books that prohibits that, and it’s in the Zoning regulations.

The committee bickered over aspects of the ordinance but came up with a “fair solution,” Councilman Rich Bonenfant (R-At Large) said. People who are poor or handicapped will get some slack, but there is still a deadline, he said.

If an owner without those mitigating circumstances does not correct the blight within the time period stated in a written warning the owner will face $100 a day fines, as is the case in the current ordinance. If it’s not “cured” within 30 days the city may eliminate the blight, and then cover the cost with a lien on the property.

The Blight Prevention officer will give an elderly, disabled or low income owner up to 90 days to correct the problems and provide information on possible opportunities for assistance with every warning letter or citation issued.

It’s the perfect time for a blight ordinance that applies to commercial property because there are people who bought property when it was cheap and who haven’t been maintaining it, Councilman John Kydes (D-District C) said.

The removal of the word “housing” was a “wonderful simple solution,” Majority Leader Doug Hempstead (R-At Large) said.

“This one required a lot of patience, a lot of leadership to get this through,” Hempstead said. “Considering that we have been working on blight ordinances, started probably six years ago and finally within the last two years we’ve gotten two different blight ordinances passed, I think that says a lot.”