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BCC to take a bite out of blight

Debra W. Buehn
Posted 8/24/16

GREEN COVE SPRINGS – Hoping to put some “bite” into blight measures already on the books, Clay County commissioners voted Tuesday to approve a new blight ordinance they believe would be easier …

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BCC to take a bite out of blight


Posted

GREEN COVE SPRINGS – Hoping to put some “bite” into blight measures already on the books, Clay County commissioners voted Tuesday to approve a new blight ordinance they believe would be easier to enforce than what they have available to them now.

The vote was 4-1 in favor of the ordinance, with the dissenting vote coming from commission vice chairman Ronnie Robinson.

The new ordinance would give the commission a method to deal with buildings that might be boarded up, abandoned or considered derelict or unsafe. It would replace what is already on the books, said Mark Scruby, county attorney, adding that the biggest difference between what has been available to the commission and what the new ordinance creates is the ability for enforcement.

“You’ve always had this ordinance but not in a very good form – not in a usable form. That was the standard unsafe housing abatement code that was adopted years ago and never implemented,” Scruby said. “I don’t think it had adequate mechanisms for implementation.”

Essentially, the previous legislation dealing with blight, which was repealed when the commission voted to approve the new ordinance, did not provide for any method to fund dealing with buildings considered blighted.

Still, Scruby said, implementing the new ordinance will require further action by the commission to establish a funding mechanism if it is ever deemed necessary to deal with a derelict building. His recommendation, he said, would be to “start small” and meet with the county manager to create a fund with a “modest sum of money” and have the county manager come back to the commission with a list of the worst properties, those that have the most potential for blight.

“Then make a decision about how you would order those and give her [County Manager Stepahnie Kopelousos] direction to go forward with them. So ultimately, you’d be in charge of when you would implement it,” he said.

Chairwoman Diane Hutchings said while she did not see herself as “ready to charge off and fund anything,” she did think it would be good to have some enforcement abilities available if needed.

“I think if we had a situation come up it’s better to have it on the books where you can actually do something versus what we’ve had in the past where you really can’t do anything,” she said.

Potential cost was among the reasons Robinson objected to the ordinance.

“If we try to enforce this ordinance, we’re talking about a lot of money,” Robinson said, adding that Jacksonville was spending a “lot of money” trying to enforce its blight ordinance.

He also said that dealing with the ordinance could be tough.

“When you go and take out a house because it’s got a hole in the roof or something, you’d better go out there with the police and everybody else even with this ordinance,” he said.

Robinson said he didn’t believe Clay County had very much blight – certainly not to the extent of a place like Jacksonville that had whole neighborhoods that were essentially abandoned and creating problems – and that the new ordinance seemed like a “power grab” to him.

Robinson also said he didn’t like the way the subject had come up.

“I’m going to put everything in order on this if it passes today, anyway, and I’ll bring back the path that this took because this didn’t take the right path to begin with,” he said. “This board never officially gave that man [Scruby] direction to work on this ordinance.

Much of the recent discussion on the new ordinance took place after Commissioner Wayne Bolla received complaints about a house in Oakleaf, which falls into his district, that had burned years ago and was still standing but in extremely poor condition. Bolla said he had to tell people, including a television crew, that under direction from the county attorney, he could not even set foot on the property, let alone try to deal with it.

With the new ordinance, the county at least has something it can use to fight blight, he said.

“This is a tool,” he said, adding that even though it might not often be used, at least it was available and if the commission decided to fund an effort to fight a problem building, it could.

“The way it is now, everybody knows we can’t do anything. They’re laughing at us,” Bolla said.

Commissioner Wendell Davis supported having the new ordinance and said while he was originally concerned about the possibility of abusing it, he believed it had been structured with a “significant” system of checks and balances that would guard against any abuse. It was a tool in the tool box, he said, and much better than what was currently available to the county.

“The ordinance now…it’s useless,” he said.

Interim Commissioner Buck Burney originally asked to table the vote, saying he needed more insight into it. After listening to the commissioners’ discussion, however, he voted for the ordinance.

In other business, the commission voted – happily – to approve the annual residential assessment rates required for both solid waste disposal and solid waste and recovered material collection services. Both fees showed a reduction from last year’s rates, with the solid waste disposal dropping from $84 to $72 and the other rate dropping from $146.40 to $132.90.

Scruby said staff recommended the rate reductions due to “efficiencies and cost savings” that had allowed for a “better rate.”

Commissioners also voted unanimously to send to the Planning Commission for discussion the idea of changing the required distance between churches and public and private schools and restaurants with on-site consumption of alcoholic beverages where food sales are at least 51 percent of total sales.

The item would return to the Board of County Commissioners for further discussion and two public hearings if the BCC voted to pursue the idea.

“This gives ample time for the community to participate,” said Davis.

Commissioners also said their farewells and expressed their appreciation to Scruby, who is retiring after nearly 30 years of service to the county as county attorney. Tuesday’s commission meeting was his last, as his retirement date is Aug. 31. Since he began his duties on Oct. 1, 1989, Scruby has served with 26 county commissioners, seven county managers and seven constitutional officers.

Scruby made special note of his assistant, Fran Moss, for all of her support and said he didn’t really know what he was going to do next, but added, “It’s been a distinct honor and privilege to be of service all of these years.”