City officials say they are stepping up enforcement of nuisance ordinances

WOONSOCKET – The city has been cracking down on trashy, unkempt properties, stepping up enforcement of public nuisance and landscape ordinances, according to Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt.

City inspectors have been aggressively enforcing the ordinances to ensure property owners who allow an accumulation of trash and debris on their property, or who let grass and weeds get out of hand, are cited and comply with strict cleanup deadlines.

The city has written 164 public nuisance citations and 85 landscape citations so far this year.

“Our inspectors are more aggressively pursuing owners who are not maintaining their properties,” said Baldelli-Hunt. “The increased activity is a clear reflection of the inspection team understanding the importance of maintaining a clean and healthy environment throughout the city and the importance it has upon the quality of life citywide.”

Inspectors monitor and perform inspections of properties citywide daily. Upon identifying a violation, an inspector typically issues a citation and attempts to contact the owner of the property. Violators must comply in 5-7 days, otherwise they will receive a summons for a mandatory appearance in Municipal Court.

Thus far, 102 of the public nuisance citations issued this year have been corrected without court intervention, while 42 summonses were issued to non-compliant property owners. For land- scape violations, another 20 court summonses were issued, while 40 violations were resolved without court action.

“I want to thank our Minimum Housing Inspection Team headed by Jacob Neves and the public works staff for the increased attention they are giving to the beautification efforts of the city,” said the mayor. “Planting flowers, gathering litter and paving are some of the many ways they continuously keep our streets, parks and municipal lots beautiful for all of us.”

Said Neves, the city’s senior housing inspector, “In my opinion, we have experienced improved levels of compliance since implementing our new procedures and we look forward to continued improvement.”