Community Planning Committee
Minutes, 1 July 2009
Present: Ron Meick, Danny Schweers, Ray Seigfried, and Sally Sharpe. Also in attendance were two Arden trustees: Mike Curtis and Connee McKinney. Alison Byer, representing Ardentown, and Pat Toman, representing Ardencroft, also attended.
Ray Seigfried, convener, called this to order at 7:03 p.m. at the Buzz Ware Village Center to discuss Instant Ticketing.
Instant Ticketing
In a June 30 email, Ray said at this meeting we wanted to discuss:
"...options regarding the County Land Use Code Enforcement process. As you know the county has established 10 potential reasons of code violations. If anyone reports a violation to the county Land Use Department they will inspect the property an if they find a code violation a letter will be issued providing time to correct the violation. If the leaseholder does not make correction then a $50 fine will be issued. An additional $50 fine will be issue if the leaseholder does not correct the code violation after the first $50 violation. Community Planning held a meeting on this topic several months ago without clear direction or agreement. Our opportunity will be to identify options and if possible reach agreement on some direction which can be brought back to Town meetings at Arden, Ardencroft and Ardentown for a unified answer. Some of the options already talked about are listed below,
- Do nothing, we agreed to be include under county code and this process is county process that everyone throughout the county follows.
- Move to be excluded from this process. The Arden's are different and we should not care about the 10 code violation.
- Modify the process by having some screening process of community review on all complaints called into the county. This allows us to be in control.
There are additional options, see you tomorrow."
Alison and Pat were welcomed to the meeting, the hope being that whatever solution is arrived at, it might be shared by the three Ardens.
In the discussions that followed, Option 1 had a lot of sympathy, since only two tickets have been issued. Alison Byer spoke for Option 2, that we don't need inspections and ticketing and that it does not accomplish much anyway, so why not opt out?
Option 3 was discussed at length, but no clear consensus was arrived at. Danny liked the idea of screening complaints, Connee did not, and others did not find the arguments compelling.
What we agreed on was a fourth option, to have New Castle County continue their instant ticketing process, but to tailor it to The Ardens. Specifically, to eliminate warnings and tickets for overgrown grass and weeds, for tree branches in the yard, and for vehicles parked on the lawn. Having unanimously agreed on this proposal, Ray will see how welcome such a proposal may be at the County and State levels.
Next Meeting
Our next regularly-scheduled meeting is Wednesday, July 15, 7:00 p.m. at the Buzz Ware Village Center.
Respectively submitted,
Danny Schweers, Committee Secretary
