Concerns about poorly-cared-for properties – and how to handle them – were brought up at Monday’s Bowling Green Council meeting.
Resident David Pfleger distributed a packet of photographs he said were taken on Sunday over the course of about an hour in an area included in the Pedestrian Residential District. This is the city’s proposed zoning code update, from East Wooster Street to Poe Road along North Enterprise, North Summit and North Prospect streets.
The images – 34 in all – depicted a number of issues including garbage in yards, broken or boarded-up windows, cars parked on the grass, a keg in a tree and bales of straw used as insulation.
Pfleger said that there are city codes and ordinances in place to deal with code violations. Organizations charged with the responsibility for that include code enforcement in the planning department, the police division and public works.
However, he said, frequently the citizens must report the problems.
“That system has failed the community,” Pfleger said, “and has resulted in what you see before you today in the handout.”
He said that the Save Our BG Neighborhoods and East Side groups want to make sure it is understood that they don’t oppose rentals in neighborhoods. But they do oppose deteriorating properties which affect the value of those near them.
Pfleger offered solutions to the issues.
“There needs to be a shift in enforcement, from reactive to proactive,” he said.
Those charged with the responsibility of enforcement need to look at properties for violations, targeting areas with a higher propensity for them.
Second, Pfleger said that a reporting system needs to be set up that allows citizens to report issues without fear of retaliation. There also need to be clear procedures and reasonable timeframes for violations to be addressed and corrected. He said that some issues at certain properties have been ongoing for years.
Later in the meeting, Council President Mark Hollenbaugh asked Public Services Director Joe Fawcett if he had seen Pfleger’s packet. Fawcett said he had.
“I find it concerning,” Hollenbaugh said.
“I think we all do,” Fawcett said.
Mayor Mike Aspacher also said that the images concerned him as well.
He said that in the fall of 2022, when council was discussing strategic goals for the coming year, one that was identified was starting a conversation about a comprehensive exterior housing maintenance code in the city. Aspacher said some development of additional laws and ordinances around exterior housing conditions are appropriate when one sees photographs like those provided by Pfleger.
“I think all of us would agree there is room for improvement,” he said. “I certainly do.”
He noted that there are funds in the 2023 budget to begin engaging in conversations around this issue.
“This is still my intent, we will begin this conversation in the course of the calendar year,” Aspacher said. “I suspect it will be a lengthy and at times, contentious conversation.”
Aspacher said that he is committed to it.
“I think probably the thing that most stresses me looking at these pictures is these were accumulated in one day,” Hollenbaugh said. “These weren’t just cherry-picked over a period of time.”
He said that council is also willing to work on the issue.
