[RP TownTalk] property code, multifamily uses of single family houses, and related issues

[Vernon Archer]

Friends and neighbors,

It has been interesting to read back over some of the discussions of
housing, maintenance, enforcement, immigration and related issues that this
list has hosted over the last week.  As I have been very consumed with
trying to put together the FY 2011 budget proposal and preparing to explain
it to both the council and town residents I am just now getting caught up
a number of past emails--including most of the referenced discussion.  Now
that I am "semi" caught up, I'd like to ask a courtesy, and provide what I
hope will be some useful contributions to the those who are interested.
There is way to much to comment on everything, so I'm going to confine
myself to things most directly related to town government activities.

First, if you want my opinion or official position, please address me
separately OR in addition to the list so that I know I am being asked to
respond as opposed to simply being another person on the list who may or may
not decide to read and or weigh in on a discussion.

Regarding code and occupancy issues:
If there are specific violations, or accusations being made of violations of
town code or law it is improper for me to discuss them in a public forum. If
you feel that a specific violation has/is taking place and you don't feel it
is being addressed, or you don't know who to contact, please mail me
directly and I will work with you to get the situation addressed.

Regarding immigration, residency and citizenship, I will restrain myself
to a common understanding of current municipal law (law as explained through
Maryland Municipal League, and advice from municipal attorneys).  The United
States has citizens. States, counties and towns have residents. Therefore,
except in a few fairly well defined exceptions like felonies, direct
employment and voting rights, a person's status as citizen (or registered or
unregistered alien) is very rarely an issue for us to consider. Certainly in
cases of code enforcement and use/occupancy such status is simply not
relevant.

The town is a home to residents and a workplace for persons from a wide
variety of backgrounds and it is our policy to actively engage us ALL in
making our town safe, clean and beautiful.  Because our homes are greatly
impacted by the actions (or lack of actions) of others in our neighborhoods,
residents before us were granted a charter and then created town code to
insure a certain minimum standard of upkeep.  We work diligently to
encourage compliance with town code and when necessary take actions to
penalize those who do not obey the code. Because the accused and or cited
have legal rights too, it is often frustrating to see clear violation go
unabated for what seems like a long time but we in municipal government must
follow our rules too.

I find that almost always--though not quite--when I receive complaints about
a particular property our code enforcement office already has an open case
on the property.  Because we have found that our code is sometimes overly
cumbersome,we have moved in several instances to streamline the process of
either penalizing, or moving to cleanup violations and bill the owners. This
is an ongoing process and feedback from the community about your opinions
and any frustrations will help us fine tune the code.

Multi-family uses of single family homes is definitely a complicated issue
for code enforcement.  Until a few years ago this was exclusively an issue
for the county, but in about 2006 our council adopted segments of county
code on occupancy so that we can now address these matters too. We are still
heavily dependent on the county for support in these cases, but since we can
initiate such cases we are handling them better than in the past.

The basic rule is there can be no more than 5 unrelated families/persons in
a house, but this is rarely the real problem threshold.  Problems of
overcrowding usually include members of only two or three unrelated
families.  What we find is usually the best way to address difficult
crowding situations are if there are clear violations of other
types--illegal parking, violations of yard or trash disposal, etc.

The threshold for throwing people out of their house is of course high, as
it should be.

I'm running out of time as I have tonight's meeting to prepare for. In
closing please know our town council work session is tonight at 8 PM and
next Monday night's Legislative session where the business of the town is
actually transacted. One item on the agenda--may or may not be discussed
tonight, but that will almost certainly be acted on next Monday night--is a
reform of the code to allow for more vigorous enforcement of overgrown
lawns.

Best wishes to all,

Vern

-- 
Vernon Archer, Mayor
Town of Riverdale Park, Maryland
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