Proposed vacant building ordinance temporarily shuttered in Springfield

A proposed ordinance change that would have required mandatory liability insurance on vacant buildings is going back to the town’s ordinance sub-committee for further tweaking following public concern over wording in the proposal.

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2016-05-25 / Front Page Proposed vacant building ordinance temporarily shuttered in Springfield By Tory Jones Bonenfant toryb@eagletimes.com SPRINGFIELD — A proposed ordinance change that would have required mandatory liability insurance on vacant buildings is going back to the town’s ordinance sub-committee for further tweaking following public concern over wording in the proposal. The proposed change to Ordinance 2016-2 was drafted to address “certain nuisances caused by vacant buildings.” A first public hearing and second reading took place at a regular meeting of the Springfield Selectboard on Monday, May 23. The board decided to revise the proposal further based on public comments about some controversy in the wording of that draft, according to Board Chair Kristi Morris. “We took the public testimony, and we’ll kick it back to the ordinance committee for revision on some items,” Morris said on Tuesday. Morris said that the concern he heard on Monday dealt mostly with the proposed ordinance change including a requirement that property owners have mandatory liability insurance. “That was the biggest one,” he said. The proposed changes included a requirement that owners of vacant buildings will have to “maintain liability insurance for as long as the building is vacant.” Other areas of the proposed ordinance, created to amend the Administrative Code, Chapter 7: Health, Sanitation and Nuisances, deal with community health and safety and protection of property by requiring owners to secure and maintain vacant buildings in Springfield that are not only vacant, but also potentially dangerous, in disrepair and blight, or at risk for criminal activity, arson or vagrants Another concern was about wording in the proposal about building foundations having any leaks, Morris said. It was pointed out by members of the public that a lot of foundations in Springfield — abandoned or otherwise — have leaks because of the age of many of the structures, Morris said. “That’s the nature of the beast,” he said. That concern arose from Section 7-173 of the proposed ordinance, subsection (e) under “Obligations of Vacant Building Owners,” and was worded as follows: “Foundation walls shall be maintained structurally sound so as not to pose a threat to public health and safety, shall be capable of supporting the load which normal use may be placed thereon, and shall be free from open cracks and breaks, free from leaks, and be animal and rodent-proof.” The ordinance sub-committee will take the testimony heard at Monday’s meeting, draft up new legislation for the proposed ordinance change, and present it again to the selectboard, Morris said. The selectboard will meet again on June 20, but the sub-committee members “thought that was a bit soon” and may present the new draft in August, Morris said. Selectboard members Walter Martone and George McNaughton serve on that subcommittee. It is scheduled to meet again at 4 p.m. Tuesday, June 7 at Town Hall, according to the minutes of the May 3 meeting. In other agenda items scheduled for the next ordinance sub-committee meeting, the committee plans to “begin consideration of the amendment or repeal of the Town’s ordinance prohibiting the establishment of marijuana dispensaries,” according to those minutes. The proposed building ordinance changes can be viewed at http://www.springfieldvt.govoffice2.com.