Warren hires housing court judge

Attorney Stephen Sypole was member of Warren Planning Board

EastBayRI.com ·

Warren has hired a judge to oversee the town’s new Housing Court, established earlier this year to give Warren shaper teeth in enforcing zoning and building codes.

Stephen Sypole, a Coomer Avenue resident who most recently served on the Warren Planning Board, was voted to the position Tuesday night by the Warren Town Council. He was selected over Ernest Mayo, the town’s current municipal court judge, who also applied for the post.

Mr. Sypole, a summa cum laude graduate of the Roger Williams University School of Law in Bristol, is an attorney with Gidley, Sarli and Marusak in Providence. He focuses on civil litigation in zoning, land use, municipal law and other fields. He has served as the assistant solicitor for the Town of Exeter, RI for the past three years.

The housing court was established to give the town more effective tools to adjudicate housing, building and zoning code violations. Warren Town Council members sought the court as an alternative to the town’s often cumbersome and slow system of enforcing codes, which had few teeth and often led to years-long court cases.

Mr. Sypole is working with the town solicitor and Warren Town Manager Jan Reitsma to get the court off the ground. At this point, the details have yet to be worked out, including how often and when it will meet.

Town officials and residents have complained for years that Warren’s limited ability to enforce and adjudicate zoning and building violations leads to uncleanliness and unsightly properties, eats into the building official’s time and can lead to years-long court cases.

“You can have all the enforcement you want but if you don’t have the court system behind it it all falls apart,” Warren Town Council member John Hanley said during discussions on the matter earlier this year. The court will oversee and enforce:

* Zoning ordinances
* Any violation of the Rhode Island Zoning Enabling Act of 1991
* The Historical Zoning Act
* The Minimum Housing Standards Act
* The Housing Maintenance and Occupancy Code
* The Subdivision and Land Development Act
* Any violations of Warren ordinances or regulations
* The Rhode Island State Building Code and one- and two-family dwelling codes, state plumbing codes, state mechanical code, state electrical code, state property maintenance code, state energy conservation code, and state fuel and gas code*

In cases where the town brings action against violators, the court will have the authority to:
* Restrain, prevent, enjoin, abate or correct a violation.
* Order the repair, vacation or demolition of any dwelling existing in violation.
* Otherwise compel compliance with all of the provisions of the ordinance.
* Order a dwelling into receivership and to order the removal of any clouds on the title to the building or property at issue.

Decisions made by the court are appealable to the Rhode Island Superior Court.

Apart from Mr. Sypole’s work on the planning board, his family is active in the community. His wife Jill is the founder of Volunteer Warren.