Winsted’s blight, noise laws could be changing

WINSTED — A new blight officer and additional notification to property owners are among changes to the town’s blight and noise ordinances to be voted on by the Board of Selectmen Sept. 7.

Attorney Kevin Nelligan wrote the changes, Town Manager Josh Kelly said, for review and eventual approval by the Board of Selectmen.

A change to the antiblight ordinance would make Kelly a blight officer for the town, working with Zoning Enforcement Officer Michael Stankov. Right now, town Building Official Marc Melanson also is the blight officer.

“The proposed change will also require that an additional notice be sent to the property owner, before liens are placed on the property,” Kelly said.

Kelly said the changes to the ordinance aren’t required, but should be done.

“It’s for the protection of the town, and it’s part of our educating people that blight isn’t acceptable,” he said. “We’re telling them that before we put any liens on their properties.”

The changes, Kelly said, “bring it more in line with other towns’ ordinances, that have stood up to the test of the Supreme Court.”

As for the noise ordinance, Kelly said, the changes are intended to help police enforce laws regarding high-decibel, repetitive sounds, as well as nuisance noise from a gathering, for example. To enforce a noise ordinance, he said, it first must be reviewed and approved by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Without DEEP approval, any enforcement ticket would be thrown out of court.

Police Chief William Fitzgerald has requested sound-measuring devices, which help determine when noise becomes a violation,

since his officers are responsible for enforcement, Kelly said.

“It gives police a very objective way of measuring sound output,” Kelly said. “The new ordinance can then identify in decibels when there’s a violation. The current ordinance doesn’t have that.”

Following the town of Woodbridge’s ordinance as an example, Kelly and Nelligan identified three areas — commercial, industrial and residential — to measure sound and create a category. “We divided up the areas we have in town and created a similar structure, to define when noise is a violation,” Kelly said.

The Police Department is responsible for enforcing this ordinance. “All complaints go to the cops, if anyone complains at Town Hall,” Kelly said.

After the Sept. 7 vote, the ordinances will be posted on townofwinchester.org.

According to Kelly, a blight enforcement officer doesn’t seek out places to report — it’s up to residents to alert the town if they see a problem, and it seems to be working.

“We were looking at a blight officer going out and finding it, but there’s enough blight in the community,” he said. “The reason the blight officer hasn’t done that, is to make sure there’s not a level of bias. We want to make sure it’s someone else who’s brought it forward, whether it’s another member of town staff or a resident. It protects the blight officer.”

Kelly recently told Perez that letters from residents come in frequently.

“We get letters with pictures, or hard photographs, or they email us,” he said. “We document those, so there’s a paper trail. No matter what, if this property is going to be taken into a legal situation, we want to make sure it’s very welldocumented.”

In Winsted’s regulations, blighted buildings are defined by the ordinance is any abandoned property with delinquent taxes and declared abandoned by the property owner.

A blighted property is any building or structure or any land parcel that is becoming dilapitated, not being maintained, or is a fire hazard; is unsanitary or life-threatening; and creating “a substantial and unreasonable interference” by reducing other property values in the neighborhood.

Graffiti, chimneys in disrepair, overhanging canopies, signs, fire escapes and other additions in disrepair; dead or diseased trees or other vegetation, and anything that makes the property unsightly and dangerous such as trash, standing water or other rubble.

When those conditions exist, the blight ordinance can be enacted using fines to get the property owner to clean up the land or building. First, an enforcement officer sends the owner a violation notice, which are reported monthly to the town manager. Property owners can appeal the notice within 10 days. The property owner can ask for a hearing. The town also can place a lien on the property, and the owner can be fined up to $99 per day for the violations, if not corrected, according to the ordinance.

An example of a blighted property taken over by the town is 508 Main St., a former business building with apartments on the second floor. Winsted officials took ownership of that property last year, and has established a committee to decide its future, either as a building or being razed for a parking lot or some other use.

Winsted Town Manager, Josh Kelly and Town Attorney Kevin Nelligan have presented the Board of Selectmen with several changes to town ordinances governing blight and noise. The board is expected to vote on the changes Sept. 7.