HOBOKEN — City of Hoboken council members approved a Blight Ordinance City Attorney Adam Ferrell was asked to revise in July.
Mayor Joey Crews told the council during the Tuesday, September 2 meeting the Blight Ordinance had been talked about since with action needed.
“This has been on the back burner for a little while,” said Crews. We’ll take the action on that tonight.”
Councilman James Ray asked Ferrell if the council could come back and change things later.
“If you want to, yes, you can amend it,” replied the attorney. If it becomes a problem, then we can look at it and come back. You would amend it through an ordinance.”
During the August 5 council meeting, Ferrell said he had “revised the proposed ordinance.”
“It should be in your packet,” he told council members. “I’ve eliminated some of the language and definitions that were in there previously under Section Two. That really governs what we’re talking about with nuisance conditions.
“Other than that, the procedural parts of it pretty much were left the same because procedure to enforce it should be the same, regardless of kind of the scope of it. If there’s any other further revisions you want to include, let me know, and we can maybe have something ready by next meeting.”
The council tabled the item until September so they could look over the ordinance.
A Blight Ordinance is a local law which can penalize (fines) property owners to address issues like structural decay (collapsing walls, broken windows, or unsafe roofs), persistent neglect (overgrown lawns, excessive garbage, and uncollected litter), or environmental hazards (contaminated properties) which harm a community’s quality of life.
Councilman Ray made the motion to approve the Blight Ordinance with Mayor Pro-Tem Robin Helmuth giving the season. The motion passed 6-0.
