Code enforcement

Guest column: People associate excessive litter with lack of social control and management, which breeds a sense of insecurity. The perception of Riverhead is that it is dirty and dangerous. 

The firearms business seeking permission to open at 680 Elton Street has been hit with a stop-work order and code violations charging the company with occupying and using the premises without permits.

A rundown of the Nov. 6 town board meeting, including a hearing on the proposed 2020 operating budget, new staff hires and authorization of a Supreme Court action over alleged code violations at a Harrison Avenue home.

Supervisor Laura Jens-Smith’s proposal to tighten housing code standards and implement steep increases in fines for code violations was rejected by the town board Wednesday in a 2-1 vote.

The towns and school district need to keep an open line of communication to support to each other.

Riverhead Town officials are discussing ways to take aim at 'blighted properties' that are vacant and boarded-up like this long-closed store on the corner of Roanoke Avenue and Pulaski Street, with new legislation that would assess fees of up to $5,000 against properties determined to be blighted under a point system like one used by Huntington Town.

With a growing number of overcrowded housing reports in Riverhead neighborhoods, town officials are considering dramatically increasing fines to help pay for the lengthy investigations needed to issue violations to an offending landlord.

Riverhead Town is for the first time going to state court against the owners of four allegedly overcrowded homes. The town will seek injunctions against “the illegal use or occupancy” of the homes.

Riverhead Town doesn’t have a sufficient number of code enforcement officers to keep up with the number of complaints that need to be investigated...

Riverhead Town Board candidate Tim Hubbard argues that the town's code enforcement problems would be solved by putting the code enforcement division in the police department.