Riverhead considering new code to address blighted properties

Riverhead Town officials are moving forward with legislation that will allow the town to take action on properties it determines to be “blighted” based on a point system that ranks a laundry list of unwanted conditions.

Under a draft code being discussed by officials, modeled on a code adopted by the Town of Huntington in 2011, the designated blight conditions range from boarded-up or broken windows and doors to the presence of vermin or rodents, overgrown grass and the presence of unregistered vehicles. Each condition is assigned a point value and when the total points on a property reaches 100, the property is determined to be blighted and the owner notified.

The owner of a blighted property can, within 30 days offer proof that the property is not blighted or enter into a restoration agreement with the town. After 30 days, the property will be added to the town’s inventory of blighted properties and the property will be assessed a “registration fee.” In Huntington, the registration fee is $5,000 for a commercial property and $2,500 for a residential property. The registration fee is added to the property’s tax bill.

The Huntington Town code requires $1,500 of each such fee to be set aside in a beautification fund established to finance the town’s revitalization and anti-blight efforts.

If the town takes action to correct blight conditions following registration as a blighted property, the cost of correcting blight conditions is likewise added to the parcel’s property tax bill.

Town attorney Robert Kozakiewicz said a Huntington official he’s spoken with said the program has been working very well.

“By identifying each of the problems and assessing points, it leaves subjectivity aside,” Kozakiewicz said.

The code revision committee has been working on the draft code, which it circulated to town board members at Thursday morning’s work session. The new provisions would be added to the Riverhead Town Code’s chapter on property maintenance, Kozakiewicz said.

Councilwoman Catherine Kent, who chairs the code committee, said the group — which besides the town attorney includes planning and building department staff — wanted to address the condition of vacant properties, especially downtown. The new code would apply townwide, however.

“It’s a great way of holding people accountable,” Kent said.

“I’ve been told some of the buildings downtown have animals in them. It’s not a good reflection on our town,” Kent said.

“Some properties are just vacant forever,” building inspector Brad Hammond told the board. “Riverhead has made so many great strides. Some you just can’t get them to move. This is something that maybe will get them to move.”

The councilwoman asked the board if the code committee should continue to develop the blighted properties code provisions. They all agreed.

“Absolutely,” Councilwoman Jodi Giglio said.

“This is really good. I like it,” Deputy Supervisor Tim Hubbard said.

“If you have to slap them in the wallet to get them to improve their property, so be it,” Councilman James Wooten said.

The town board in October adopted a code provision prohibiting vacant storefronts in the Main Street zoning district (Downtown Center-1 or DC-1) from exhibiting “evidence of vacancy.” The town’s code enforcement unit has issued a number of notices of violation, but the property owners have not yet been brought into court. The code gives them 30 days to cure the violation.

“I think we’re just about coming up on the 30-day mark,” Supervisor Laura Jens-Smith said in an interview today.

The only other code provisions currently in place that deal with property conditions are those regulating unsafe structures and the existence of “weeds, grass and rank vegetation” in excess of 10 inches high, piles of yard waste and open excavations. There is also a code regulating properties deemed to be nuisances, which generally deals with properties on which illegal activities.

Unlike the DC-1 “evidence of vacancy” provision, the blighted property code would apply in all zoning use districts, to residential as well as commercial properties and to vacant land as well. Adding a property to the blighted property inventory — and the imposition of the registration fee — would not require a court action.

The Huntington Town code lists 23 separate conditions that are to be “considered factors in evaluating whether or not a property is designated as a blighted property.”

The Huntington code assigns point values for each condition. They range from five points — for boarded windows or doors, gutters in disrepair and broken light fixtures — to 50 points — a code enforcement officer’s determination that the property’s condition poses a serious threat to the community’s safety, health or general welfare and a determination by the fire marshal that the property conditions constitute a fire hazard, for example.

Also in the Huntington code:

• Broken or unsecured doors, excessive litter, overgrown grass at least 10 inches or higher or other overgrown vegetation or shrubbery and more than one unregistered motor vehicle are all conditions worth 10 points on the scale.
• The storage of junk vehicles and damaged, unsightly, unsecured or unpermitted signage or awnings are 15 points.
• Unfinished construction is worth 20 points.
• The presence of vermin, rodent harborage and infestation is a 30-point condition, as is a hazardous or dilapidated vacant building.

Riverhead’s code revision committee will continue to work on its draft of a blighted properties code and present it to the full board at a future work session.