Warren gets tough on building and zoning violations

Warren plans to get tough on property owners who violate zoning and building codes by keeping unkempt, derelict, unhealthy or unsafe properties.

Warren Town Council members and the town manager made it clear last week that Warren needs to do a better job enforcing town zoning and state housing codes. With dozens, if not hundreds, of violations spread out across every corner of town, councilors said Warren’s current system for dealing with them is clearly not working; some complaints range back two, three and even five years or more.

Whether the town needs a part time zoning enforcement officer, a municipal court with more authority or, in the case of abandoned or bank-owned properties, the will to threaten title-holders with receivership in Superior Court, something must be done, they said at a special council workshop last Tuesday.

“Unfortunately many areas of town that are in disrepair have been that way for some time,” Warren Town Councilor Joseph DePasquale said.

“This is frustrating to us as well because we have people turn their heads when they walk past us because they contacted us 10 years ago” about a problem and never got a resolution.

“We need to do more.”

Councilor John Hanley called for last Tuesday’s meeting. As the building official for the City of Pawtucket, he said that city’s system for dealing with violations is more effective than Warren’s. From more teeth at the municipal court level to greater manpower, he said Pawtucket is able to stay on top of building and zoning complaints — and Warren should be able to as well, with some changes, he said. After more than an hour of discussion, he proposed, and his fellow councilors agreed, to:

1. Direct Warren Town Manager Jan Reitsma to explore the cost of hiring a part time code enforcement officer at 19 hours a week;

2. Direct Warren Town Solicitor Tony DeSisto to explore the differences in the way Warren Municipal Court operates and how Pawtucket’s version operates, and to suggest legislative changes if necessary.

Multi-tiered problem

How many zoning and housing violations currently exist in Warren is anyone’s guess. 

But at least 65 documented complaints have been filed in the past two years, according to a handout provided last week by Warren Building Official Tony Carvalho. His list contains dozens of complaints from all areas of town and includes homes with junk boats, unregistered cars and trucks, trash, mattresses, construction equipment, overgrown areas, improper signs and more. Many have been rectified, but many others remain unresolved.

Though he sees violations on a regular basis, Mr. Carvalho said he feels almost powerless to tackle them all as he doesn’t have the time nor manpower to address complaints and existing violations.

That is nothing new, as past building officials including Gareth Eames and before him, Bill Nash, complained of similar staffing and workload problems.

“When I got on this job” last year “I found fills from 2010 that were never investigated, because it’s overwhelming,” Mr. Carvalho said. “There’s no one to do it; I’m wearing three hats.”

Avenue A resident Robin Remy can attest. She filed a complaint against neighbors at 63 Vernon St. two years ago, asking that the town compel the owners to clean up their messy property. Despite keeping in regular contact with former inspector Gareth Eames, she said nothing was ever done, and the property now appears to be in foreclosure.

“I’m just wondering, what happened? How come (the issue) hasn’t been rectified yet?”

Mr. Carvalho said the answer has a lot to do with the way Warren deals with building code violations.

Under town ordinances, violators of building and zoning codes must be served notice. Once that happens, the violator has 30 days to remedy the violation, unless the issue is one of public health and safety. If that’s the case, the remedy must be immediate. If the problem still isn’t addressed after 30 days, the municipal court can assess a fine of $500 per day in the cases of building code violations; in the case of zoning code violations, the $500 fine can be eschewed in favor of an injunction taken out in Rhode Island Superior Court.

Unfortunately, the town’s process often breaks down once it reaches the Superior Court level.

“What we do to enforce property maintenance codes is we notify a property owner to the best of our knowledge,” Mr. Carvalho said. “If they choose to do nothing it’ll drag on and eventually we’ll refer it to municipal court. If they don’t show up, I don’t know what to do at that point. In the meantime we have a blight problem that we can’t correct.”

“When (Mr. Carvalho) refers to the matters dragging on … what typically happens is the property owner says ‘I need more time’ and (the municipal court judge) gives him more time,” Mr. DeSisto added. “That’s what happens in the end; it’s more of a judicial action as opposed to inaction on the part of the enforcement officer.”

In addition, he said, “the difficulty with municipal court is its authority is limited to fining. If the goal is to have the property violations corrected, you really have to go the next step in my opinion, and that would be the Superior Court level.”

Political will

While councilors said they would like to see substantive changes made, several wondered if hiring a zoning enforcement officer now will make any difference. What’s needed before the town gets to that point, they said, is a clear understanding of how Warren plans to respond to cases:

“The point here is that if we cannot come up with some kind of understanding of how to proceed, to me it’s a waste of time to hire another person,” Steve Thompson said.

The zoning enforcement officer has to know that the “town has his back,” and “until we have that solidified here, for me it’s like putting the cart before the horse.”

Mr. Reitsma expounded on that:

“The problem is that there hasn’t been this kind of discussion. This discussion is making it explicit: Enforcement is part of revitalization. I think the council should very clearly say, ‘We want to see things happen more consistently.’”

“I think it would help if we adopted a policy for the time being, that all cases that deserve an NOV (notice of violation), that automatically after 30 days, something happens. At that time it may be very important to have communication with the solicitor.”

“I think wherever we can, maybe we ought to have a monthly check where the solicitor and the building official talk to each other,” Mr. Reitsma added.

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In the meantime, Mr. Reitsma will research the cost of hiring a part time code enforcement officer, and Mr. DeSisto will research the differences between the Pawtucket and Warren municipal courts. They are expected to have updates ready for the council at its February meeting.