Ordinance Targets Vacant Property Upkeep in Woodbine

WOODBINE – Borough Council conducted its regularly scheduled meeting Sept. 4 and discussed a number of agenda items. Most significant was an ordinance requiring the registration and maintenance of vacant properties, which unanimously passed upon first reading. A public hearing and second and final reading for approval of the ordinance will take place Sept. 18 at the next regularly scheduled borough council meeting.
According to Borough Solicitor Richard Tonetta, the ordinance is new state legislation that enables municipalities to require lending institutions and banks to register vacant properties and their foreclosures with the clerk and maintain them. The ordinance will allow better borough monitoring of properties that might be in disrepair, in code violation, uninsured, vandalized, or that need servicing by the Public Works Department of to maintain standards of health and safety.
The ordinance requires lending institutions or banks that foreclose on a property to cover the gap between when an owner vacates a property, frequently because mortgage payments cannot be made, and when a new occupant resides in the property. Contact information must also be provided for a person residing in New Jersey to serve as agent to receive legal process.
Under the proposed ordinance, the creditor institution must pay a fee to register the property as follows: $500 for the first year; $1,500 the second year; $3,000 the third year; $5,000 the fourth year and all subsequent years. According to Tonetta, these fees would be a lien on real estate and are in line with other municipalities in New Jersey such as Princeton, Elizabeth, Swedesboro and Newark, which already have enacted similar ordinances.
According to Mayor William Pikolycky, “These fees are justified since the borough now is shouldering the burden by itself of ensuring the safety and appearance of these vacant properties.”
“These vacant properties are a cancer,” Pikolycky added. “Many borough residents are putting up with deplorable conditions of neighboring properties, suffering under these conditions. Through this ordinance the borough will be able to put appropriate pressure on creditors who have foreclosed on these vacant properties.”
Currently, the borough funds services to ensure adequate maintenance of vacant properties with the hope of eventually being reimbursed. Under the proposed ordinance, the borough becomes a payee of insurance proceeds that cover remediation of vacant properties and most lending institutions carry such insurance already.
Water Tank Renovations
Other business conducted at this meeting included approvals of two change orders for water tank renovations. One order will provide for a single antenna to replace a repeating antenna and the other will convert present manual electric controls to automated controls.
Other items
Council discussed:
* Sewer study underway, which is 99 percent completed. The study includes feedback from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of Environmental Protection, Pinelands Commission and county Municipal Utilities Authority, and will soon be open for public comment.
* Several grant proposals to various funding sources, which if approved will provide for a new roof and interior renovations for the Woodbine fire house.
* New interconnecting bikeways.
* A landfill site plan contiguous to the airport.
Woodbine Manor
Tonetta concluded with a status summary of the Woodbine Manor litigation which involves the constitutionality of an ordinance regarding annual rental registrations similar to those many other municipalities enforce.