In Plymouth, when there are properties around town that are considered a blight and a nuisance, such as vacant rundown buildings, the town currently has limited ability to enforce a remedy.
To change that, Building Inspector Nick Mayo brings Article 5-a bylaw amendment addressing blight and nuisance on property—to fall Town Meeting. The Select Board was in support of the article at their meeting on the 5th.
WATD’s Bobbi Clark has more:
And at that meeting, the long abandoned and neglected Bert’s Restaurant property was mentioned. Building Inspector Nick Mayo:
“The property such as Bert’s down on Warren Ave is one of the examples of the need and desire for the Select Board to have a goal to create a nuisance bylaw.”
So, if the Article 5 Bylaw Amendment is approved by Town Meeting, what would the procedure be to address such a rundown vacant building?
“…an example of this would be to set an abatement, a nuisance abatement to have that building removed given its current condition and its detriment to the neighborhood over there.”
And who would bear the cost of that?
“We would pay the contractor with town funding and then we would lien the property—put a municipal lien on the property to recoup those expenses.”
Mayo says further that…
“…the goal is compliance—it’s not to give property owners a hard time—it’s compliance.”
And the Building Inspector cautions that it’s important to note that if a property owner is…
“…actively working with the town through some type of permitting process to redevelop that property then there’s not necessarily a need to move forward with an order to remove that place in such an emergency situation, given that they’re working on redeveloping that property.”
Town Meeting is scheduled for October 21st at North High School.
