The law allows township officials to mow overgrown yards and abate other nuisances after four days, once a property has been declared a nuisance twice in a year.
The law, which puts townships on par with cities already empowered for quicker action through home-rule powers, got good reviews throughout the region.
“Anything that makes the process simpler for us is a good thing. It’s sometimes a frustrating process to work through the notification,” said Cara Killkelley, planning and zoning official in Sugarcreek Twp. in Greene County.
Up to monthlong wait to clear waist-high grass
On June 7, the corner lot and 60-year-old house at 3615 Springboro Road were acquired by U.S. Bank in a sheriff’s sale in Warren County, the result of one of the numerous foreclosures occurring in the nation’s struggling housing market.
Last week, weeds and grass were about waist-high in places, except for a swath cut to help drivers see around the corner at Springboro and Trudy, just north of Ohio 122 in Clearcreek Twp.
Currently, “you’re looking at a month” before action can be taken in some cases, said Jeff Palmer, director of planning and zoning in Clearcreek Twp.
First, township administrators need authority from trustees. No action can be taken until a week after delivery of certified letters declaring the nuisance to the owner and lienholders.
“A smart person dodges a certified letter for a couple weeks,” said Palmer, the official overseeing the complaints in the township, just south of the Warren-Montgomery county line.
Also stalling action is the fact that banks and mortgage companies, rather than individuals, are the owners in 50 to 70 percent of the complaints, Palmer said.
“You’re typically dealing with a mortgage company that doesn’t care. They’re in a different state,” Palmer said.
Already this year, Clearcreek Twp. has issued 19 complaints, putting it on pace to double last year’s total, Palmer said.
Old law meant bigger problems for Ohio townships
Other Ohio townships had bigger problems under the old law.
State Rep. Lou Blessing, R-Cincinnati, said he co-sponsored the law change after calls for relief from officials in Colerain Twp. in Hamilton County.
In 2009, Colerain, Ohio’s largest township with 60,000 residents, sent out 813 public nuisance complaints, about a quarter to repeat offenders, mostly about unmowed yards.
Service to an owner and mortgage company costs $5.50.
“They had to spend a lot of money just to cut the grass,” Blessing said.
Officials in Prairie Twp. in Franklin County estimated about 20 percent of about 200 nuisance complaints sent last year went to repeat offenders.
Under the new law, a certified letter still will need to be delivered after the first complaint. But now township officials will be able to take action four days after sending the letters through regular mail, saving time as well as the money expended for certified service.
The old process was designed to protect individual homeowners, Blessing said.
The new law is supposed to offset the problems of reaching the true owners of property held by banks and mortgage companies, he said.
The costs of mowing or other work done to get rid of a nuisance will be “entered on the tax duplicate as a lien upon the land and collected as are other taxes,” according to an analysis by the Ohio Legislative Service Commission.
Mortgage bankers question need
Blessing said there were no opponents during public hearings.
While expressing no reservations during hearings, a spokesman for the Ohio Mortgage Bankers Association said a system already is in place for local governments trying to locate property owners about weeds and other public nuisances. The holders of about 60 million loans are listed in the Mortgage Electronic Registrations Systems database available to local governments, spokesman Jeffery Steed said.
While there can be problems, some mortgage banks work with local governments on abandoned lots, Steed said. Steed suggested his association could have missed the bill because of a handful of unrelated amendments confusing the purpose.
Amendments to the bill include allowing coroners’ and sheriff’s offices to be located outside the county seat and designating the state frog and amphibian.
Amphibian amendment
Blessing also was skeptical about amendments, added before passage in the Ohio Senate, designating the spotted salamander the state amphibian and the bullfrog Ohio’s official frog.
Senators held out support for the bill until they were assured the wildlife amendments would be included, Blessing said.
“If we hadn’t concurred with their amendments, our township stuff wouldn’t have passed.”
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