HOBOKEN — The City of Hoboken could soon have a Blight Ordinance to help with keeping those safe inside the city limits.
“This ordinance would address unfit and unsanitary buildings,” City Attorney Adam Ferrell explained to the council during the Tuesday, May 6 meeting. “So, if you have a building that’s dilapidated and poses a risk of public safety because of a possible collapse or something like that, you can address those issues through this type of ordinance. I still think that the city has the authority to enact laws to protect public safety.
“You’ve got a safety issue with a dilapidated building if you’ve got stray animals living in there depending on how close it is to other property owners. It also devalues neighboring properties so having an ordinance like this protect the value of other people’s property.”
Georgia law defines blighted property as an urbanized or developed property that presents two or more of the following conditions:
• Uninhabitable, unsafe, or abandoned structures.
• Inadequate provisions for ventilation, light, air, or sanitation.
• Imminent harm to life or property caused by natural disasters.
• A site identified as a Superfund site or with significant environmental contamination.
• Repeated illegal activity on the property.
• Conditions conducive to ill health, disease transmission, infant mortality, or crime.
The main question of Mayor Joey Crews to the council was whether to take the state’s Blight Ordinance or have Ferrell write and ordinance specifically for the City of Hoboken.
“I know there was some concern maybe of what the state recommended as a little too broad,” said Crews. “If we want to concentrate on certain areas, we can certainly do that. We could get into a long, drawn out process if we try to write one ourselves.”
Ferrell told the council the ordinance would be tailored to what the council wanted.
“Several neighboring cities like Blackshear and Patterson have adopted the state’s version,” said Ferrell. “It’s a good model ordinance. The main thing, is determining who is going to be enforcing it. Is it going through the police department, the mayor or his designee.
“There’s a procedure where somebody from the police department will go out and issue a warning or issue the citation and then it goes to court.”
The attorney pointed out one of the more difficult things with enforcing the ordinance is absent landowners.
“Typically, someone who maybe the owner of the property does not live here and may rent the property out,” explained Ferrell. “There may or may not be a tennant. Having a tennant provides for giving notice to everybody and really dealing with the municipal court.”
The city attorney said he will have an ordinance prepared for the Tuesday, June 3, 7:30 p.m. meeting.
