City Ordinance

Chapter 14: Boards, Committees, and Commissions

ARTICLE VII Commission on Conservation and Agriculture
[Adopted 2-5-1990; amended 1-3-1994]

§ 14-27. Membership; appointment; terms of office; Chairperson.

There shall be a standing Commission known as the "Commission on Conservation and Agriculture." The Commission shall consist of 11 regular members and three alternates who must be residents of the City of Middletown.

A.  Membership and Terms of Office.

(1) The 11 regular members shall be appointed and serve as follows: four shall serve for one-year terms; four shall serve for two-year terms; and three shall serve for three-year terms.

(2) The three alternate members shall be appointed and serve as follows: one shall serve for a term of one year; one shall serve for a term of two years; and one shall serve for a term of three years.

(3) Filling of Commission vacancies shall be conducted in a manner that will maintain the staggered term expiration dates. New Commissioners appointed to fill unexpired terms will serve the remainder of the term. New Commissioners appointed at the start of a term or Commissioners being reappointed shall be appointed for a full three-year term as defined under this section.

(4) The terms of all Commission members, regular and alternate, shall commence upon appointment from the Mayor with consent of the Common Council after passage of this article, and then on February 15 thereafter.

B. Appointment of members and election of the Chairperson.

(1) All members, both regular and alternate, of the Commission shall be appointed by the Mayor with the consent of the Common Council. At least three members of the Commission shall be experienced in the management, protection and/or the regulation of agriculture as defined by Connecticut General Statutes § 1-1q.

(2) The Commission shall elect a Chairperson at the first meeting of the new Commission and thereafter at its first meeting in each subsequent year.

§ 14-28. Duties.

A. The Commission on Conservation and Agriculture shall perform such duties as are required and permitted of a municipal conservation commission and a municipal agricultural council, as provided in C.G.S. § 7-131a and C.G.S. § 7-131v, respectively, as amended.

B. The Commission may establish a subcommittee to fulfill the duties and responsibilities of a municipal agriculture council as provided in C.G.S. § 7-131v.

§ 120-25. Creation or maintenance of blighted premises prohibited; blight citation procedures; penalties for offenses; abatement procedure.

A. Creation or maintenance of blighted premises prohibited. No owner, operator or occupant of real property in the City of Middletown shall cause or allow any "blighted premises," as defined in § 120-20, to be created, nor allow the continued existence of such blighted premises, nor shall an owner, operator or occupant of real property fail to observe the respective duties of owners, operators and occupants as provided in this article. The Zoning and Wetlands Enforcement Officer, or his or her designee, shall receive complaints of properties alleged to constitute blighted premises and shall inspect such properties to determine whether they constitute a blighted premises. A violation of any section or subsection of the definition of "blighted premises" in § 120-20 shall constitute a distinct and separate violation, and each day that a building, structure or parcel of land remains in violation of this article shall constitute grounds for the assessment of a separate civil penalty.

B. Blight citation procedure. If the Zoning and Wetlands Enforcement Officer, or his or her designee, after inspection of a property, determines that a property constitutes a blighted premises, or if the City determines that such property is otherwise in violation of this article, the City may notify the owner or occupant of such blighted premises, by mailing the following to the owner or occupant's last known address on file with the City of Middletown's Tax Collector:

(1) Notice of blight. The Zoning and Wetlands Enforcement Officer, or his or her designee, shall send by certified and regular United States mail, a notice of blight to the property owner and, if applicable, to the legal occupant or possessor of the blighted premises. In the case of an unidentified owner or one whose address is unknown, the Zoning/Wetlands Enforcement Officer shall publish a notice in a local newspaper having substantial circulation in the City of Middletown, stating that the blighted premises is cited for a violation of this article. Such notice of blight shall contain at a minimum, the following information:

(a) A description of the conditions that are causing the premises to be considered a blighted premises, together with the action(s) needed to correct such conditions;

(b) That the owner or occupant of such blighted premises shall have 30 days from the date of the notice of blight to bring the property into compliance with all local codes and regulations. Such thirty-day period may be extended at the Zoning and Wetlands Enforcement Officer's discretion; and

(c) A statement of the penalties for noncompliance, including a provision informing the owner or occupant that pursuant to § 120-26 of the Middletown Code of Ordinances, the City may enter the blighted premises to remediate the blighted conditions, and that in such cases, the City shall then assess the costs incurred by the City of Middletown for such remediation upon the owner or occupant of the blighted premises as a lien, or as taxes pursuant to C.G.S. § 49-73b and C.G.S. § 12-169b, as amended.

(2) Blight citation. If the property owner or occupant does not repair the blighted condition(s) by the deadline set forth in the notice of blight, and if the conditions set forth in the notice of blight still exist on the blighted premises, the Zoning and Wetlands Enforcement Officer may issue a blight citation to the owner or occupant of the blighted premises. Such blight citation shall contain at a minimum, the following information:

(a) Notice to the property owner or occupant that he or she is being fined $100 per violation per day for each violation of this article that exists on the blighted premises after the deadline set forth in the notice of blight.

(b) That the owner or occupant of such blighted premises shall have 15 days from the date the blight citation was issued to pay the fines on an uncontested basis.

(3) Failure to pay fine notice. If the owner or occupant of the blighted premises fails to pay the fine on an uncontested basis by the date set forth in the blight citation, the Zoning and Wetlands Enforcement Officer shall issue a failure to pay fine notice within 12 months of the expiration of the final period for the uncontested payment of fines set forth in the blight citation, or any extensions thereto. The failure to pay fine notice shall contain at a minimum, the following information:

(a) The allegations against the owner or occupant of the blighted premises, and the current amount of the fines, penalties, costs or fees due;

(b) That the owner or occupant of the blighted premises may contest his liability before a citation hearing officer by delivering written notice to the City and Town Clerk of the City of Middletown within 10 days of the date of the issuance of the failure to pay fine notice;

(c) That if the owner or occupant of the blighted premises does not demand such a hearing, an assessment and judgment shall be entered against him; and

(d) That such judgment may issue without further notice.

(4) Request for blight hearing and request for blight assessment.

(a) Request for blight hearing. If the owner or occupant of the blighted premises requests a hearing within 10 days of the date of the issuance of the failure to pay fine notice, the Zoning and Wetlands Enforcement Officer shall submit a request for blight hearing to a Citation Hearing Officer, who shall then follow the procedures set forth in C.G.S. § 7-152c, as amended from time to time. If the Citation Hearing Officer, after a hearing, determines that the owner or occupant of the blighted premises is liable for the violation(s), the Citation Hearing Officer shall identify in writing violations for which the owner or occupant of the blighted premises was found to be liable in the blight assessment.

(b) Request for blight assessment. If the owner or occupant of the blighted premises fails to request a hearing within 10 days of the date of the issuance of the failure to pay fine notice, the Zoning/Wetland Enforcement Officer shall submit a request for blight assessment to a Citation Hearing Officer, who shall then follow the procedures set forth in C.G.S. § 7-152c, as amended from time to time.

C. Penalties for offenses: criminal violations and civil citations.

(1) Criminal violations.

(a) Pursuant to C.G.S. § 7-148(c)(7)(H)(xv) and C.G.S. § 7-148o, as may be amended from time to time, any person or entity who, after written notice and a reasonable opportunity to fully remediate the blighted premises within the time period prescribed in the notice of blight pursuant to § 120-25B(1), wilfully continues to violate the provisions of Chapter 120, Article II, of the Middletown Code of Ordinances, concerning the prevention and remediation of housing blight, may be fined by the State of Connecticut not more than $250 for each day for which it can be shown, based on an actual inspection of the blighted premises on each such day, the blighted conditions continued to exist after written notice to the owner or occupant. This section is designated as a violation pursuant to C.G.S. § 53a-27.

(b) Any person who is a new owner or occupant shall, upon request, be granted a thirty-day extension of the notice and opportunity to remediate prior to the imposition of a fine. If the blight is remediated during said extension, the case shall be dismissed. For purposes of this section, the term "new owner" means any person or entity who has taken title to a property within 30 days of the notice, and the term "new occupant" means any person who has taken occupancy of a property within 30 days of the notice.

(2) Civil citations. Pursuant to Section 7-148(c)(7)(H)(xv), a civil violation of this provision shall be punishable by a fine of $100 per violation for each day such violation continues. A violation of any section or subsection of the definition of "blighted premises" in § 120-20 shall constitute a distinct and separate violation. Each day any violation of this provision continues shall constitute a separate offense. Pursuant to C.G.S. § 7-148aa, any unpaid fine imposed pursuant to this article shall constitute a blight lien upon the real estate against which the fine was imposed from the date of such fine.

D. Abatement procedure. If the owner or possessor of the blighted premises fails to pay the fine on an uncontested basis by the deadline set forth in the notice of blight described in § 120-25B(1), the City may, in lieu of issuing a blight citation, invoke the procedures set forth in § 120-26C of this article, whereby in accordance with § 7-148(c)(7)(H)(xv) of the Connecticut General Statutes, as amended, the City may authorize designated agents, including, without limitation, members of the Public Works Department, the Health Department, the Fire Department and the Planning and Zoning Department, to enter the blighted premises during reasonable hours for the purpose of remediating the blighted conditions, provided that such agent(s) shall not enter any dwelling house or other structure so existing on the blighted premises without proper authorization. The City shall then assess the cost to the City of Middletown for such remediation upon the owner or occupant of the blighted premises as a lien or as taxes pursuant to C.G.S. § 49-73b and C.G.S. § 12-169b, as amended.

E. Notice. All notices required to be sent under this article shall also be sent to all lienholders of the subject property, pursuant to C.G.S. § 7-148gg, as amended from time to time, and such notice may be delivered in accordance with C.G.S. § 7-148ii if the person to whom such notice is issued is a registrant.