Council Passes Controversial Property Maintenance Code PBA, FMBA
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Now incorporating New Providence-Berkeley Heights Dispatch Summit #lHer aid VOLUME W NO. 39 May 11, 1985 Prtce: 25* Council passes controversial property maintenance code By PAIGE TUNSTALL only one home had been entered permission to enter. The In performing Certificate of tial and non-residential proper- No anonymous complaints are SUMMIT-Common Council under that code, which has been Substandard and Property Occupancy inspections, which ties under one code, said, "To accepted, said Lifland. lasi Tuesday passed a Property in effect for 18 years. Maintenance Board, of which the are required by law when a make a clear, simple code," for Melvin said the bulk of his Maintenance Code that has In that case, Lifland said, an public officer is an agent, would building changes ownership, all properties in the city. work is with multi-family dwell- several residents worried about elderly person was living under have to pursue a court order if it Melvin does enter the premises. "The Property Maintenance ings. And, said Melvin, "Tenants their constitutional rights to dangerous conditions, including considered the situation war- Change to include businesses Code we had been operating who call to complain must notify privacy. a kithcen door that opened onto a ranted it. The section of the code concer- under for 18 years did not cover their landlord first and give them The code allows the city's 20-foot drop where a porch had The code does not stale that ning residential properties has business and commercial proper- a reasonable time to fix the pro- public officer to ask permission been. Melvin must tell those he would been in effect since 1967. The ties," Brown added. blem before they can register a lo enter residential properties in "1 can't see that any right of ask for entry that they may refuse code has been changed to include "You can't write everything complaint. It's the same process order to check for violations of privacy, any constitutional right, him permission. business and commercial proper- out," she said, "For thewith the Board of Health." the code. has been denied to anyone," said "I would hope people know," lies. specifics, you go to the board. "Reasonable time" varies ac- The Property Maintenance Councilwoman Marge Brown. , that they may refuse him permis- Councilwoman Brown, asked Summit is very well protected cording to the particulars of each Code that had been in effect since "We have no right to go into sion. why the city is covering residen- from arbitrary decisions because situation, said Melvin. 1967 allowed the public officer anybody's house, as far as owner we have a board of reasonable P eventing blight the same prerogative. occupied is concerned," said people. They live in this city Prevention of blight conditions John Lifland, attorney for the Warren Melvin, current public too." is one of the code's primary pur- Substandard Housing and Pro-officer. Local attorney Ben Zander poses, according to Lifland. | perty Maintenance Board, said Residents may deny the officer contested the business section of Blight was declared along the code. Chestnut Ave. in 1983. "There "Say I owned a business in were some businesses and some town and I have three display residences there-there were con- PBA, FMBA, mayor windows, and in them are 37 stant problems to the board," boxes of shoes. Would 1 have said Lifland. violated the code?" Zander ask- "I think the board did a good ed. job in forcing the owners to do fight new conflict of Council President Murray band-aid maintenance so that the Ross said he thought that con- properties were at least safe," stituted a violation. said Lifland. interest ordinance "When you're dealing with "The one complicating factor display windows...they shouldn't is that people live there," Lifland be warehouses," said Lifland. said. "If you order them (the By PAIGE TUNSTALL PBA objects Zander believes the code landlords) to tear it down, you're Robert Lucid, president of the shows, "...legislative intent to forcing those people out." SUMMIT-Mayor Robert local PBA, believes the code is Hartlaub spoke out against a new gentrify (Summit) by fiat." Only one member of council, "poorly written and ill-advised." Exterior appearance THomas Button, voted against Conflict of Interest ordinance "Would you feel comfortable Residents at Tuesday's meeting passing the code. considered by Common Council about someone else telling you feared the code gives the city too last Tuesday. "I think basically that the state where and when you should be much subjective control over housing code," which constitutes The ordinance, the culmina- employed? About someone mak- esthetic aspects of property the residential rules of the local tion of over two years of cond- ing a subjective judgement about maintenance. code, "is designed for multi- sideration, specifically prohibits how much money you should family housing. 1 think that when city employees from off-duty Violations of the code's "ex- make?" Lucid asked the council terior appearance" stipulations you try to apply that to owner oc- employment "...which is in the on Tuesday. may come to Melvin's attention cupied homes, it becomes too in- nature of a private investigator, Lucid described the code as in two ways: he may spot them trusive," Button said. private dcteclive, or in any "heavy handed and overbear- himself while making "field in- capacity where one purpose of "There's really no easy way to ing," and possibly un- spections" or a neighbor may change it and I think that's why such employment is lo gather in- constitutional. register a complaint. no one has tried up to now," But- formation for, or lo appear as a Lucid asked who would pay ton said. 'fact witness' (as opposed to an The public officer's job for an attorney if a city employee description sets aside 12 hours of Councilwoman Judy McLen- 'expert witness') in a civil or were charged with conflict of in- criminal action or administrative the week for field inspections, or dort said she was "not entirely terest by a private citizen; Lucid driving, through the city lo check satisfied " with, her vote to pass proceeding." said a private citizen may bring for violations. the code. • ' - s-*,~*— Police officers have access to such charges without any proof. confidential files. Melvin he does check the ex- "\ voted for it because I ran on Also, asked Lucid, "If our terior appearance of single- a platform of getting a minimum Generally, the ordinance pro- wives, our brothers, our children, hibits any employment that is family, owner occupied proper- standard for the downtown, and accept a gift from a corporation- tics. I believe in thai," McLendon '•incompatible" or would give will the city employee be held ac- said. the appearance of being incom- "If it's visible from the street, countable for the actions of so- you don't have to go onto their But, she said, residents' com- patible with his employment by meone else?" t he city. properly," said Melvin. plaints about esthetic judgements FMBA objects If no problems are evident being made on their properties The mayor said he saw the or- If the city wants to restrict its from the street, "The only way disturbed her enough to consider dinance as targeted specifically employees, including firemen, I'd know is if someone called. suggesting that certain prohibi- against Fact Finders, a local from certain activities during off- What home owner is going to rat tions be added lo the code. detective agency. duty hours, "Then it should pay SUMMIT'S DAVE GURAK just missed firing a no-hitter in the Hilltoppers' 13-0 on himself?" said Melvin. A Union County Special For instance, McLendon said, them 24 hours a day," said victory over Berkeley Heights in the opening round of the Union County Tourna- If a resident calls to complain "Things like a highly respected Grand Jury last fall recommend- Michael Lonnegan, president of ment last week. For a full feature on this contest, see Art Polakowski's artice about a neighboring property, "I local club being cited for having ed, "The City of Summit should the local FMBA. on page 6 • would go to that person's house hedges too high—that's incredi- adopt a policy limiting outside Lonergan , like Lucid, believes that made the complaint—if they ble." employment of police officers to the ordinance may be un- had a back porch or something, I ensure potential conflicts of in- "1 voted for a code for health, constitutional. Summer is no vacation could see," what the alleged pro- safety, and welfare. If it goes past terest and appearances of im- "We don't need council blem was, Melvin said. that, skip it," McLendon added. propriety are eliminated, which members to tell us how to inter- policy should include requiring For hundreds of kids in Sum- In fact, for dozens of kids, a "We're going to do it just like "The key to this code is en- pret the constitution of the mit, summer is no vacation. It's couple ol weeks at camp may the Board of Health and theforcement. If it goes awry, then the Chief of Police be notified of United States,"Lonergan said. any outside employment before it solitary confinement. mean they'll be able lo write police-lhey're going to have lo we'll have to look into how it's "I think it's a shame the city The end of school brings no those essays in Hnjilisli. stand behind their complaints," being enforced," McLendon is undertaken. feels it's necessary to pass an or- Melvin said.