Vernon to crack down on illegal dwellings

VERNON — The Vernon Township Council on Monday evening passed an ordinance that will hold landlords responsible for housing tenants in dwellings that aren't up to code and force them to pay relocation assistance to displaced renters.
Ordinance 16-24 specifies impermissible units in part as those that haven't received a certificate of occupancy or were created without proper plumbing and building permits. Illegal dwellings are classified as those that exceed the legal occupancy limits on record or fail to meet health and safety regulations.
Notably, the ordinance places responsibility for evicted tenants on the shoulders of landlords. Under the measure, tenants who have been evicted due to zoning violations or code enforcement activity are entitled to receive relocation assistance from their landlords amounting to six times the amount of their monthly rent. Landlords also must return any safety deposits to their displaced tenants.
Though the passage of the measure follows increased code enforcement activity at the Legends hotel complex, Township Attorney John Ursin said the ordinance isn't aimed at Legends specifically. In particular, Ursin objected to the idea that the ordinance would unfairly target low-income residents after several Legends unit renters and owners spoke up against the measure.
“This ordinance is broad, it applies to the whole town,” Ursin said. “The assumption that everyone's drawing that this ordinance is directed at Legends is simply incorrect.”
“I think the township has a responsibility to protect the lowest income people, to make sure that spaces are legal, inspected, up to code and habitable,” he continued. “I think it's an absolute duty of the municipality to ensure that the most vulnerable residents, the ones with the lowest economic bargaining power are offered and do live in proper housing. So whether or not any of this ordinance applies to Legends is something to be seen.”
Legends residents like Richard Sacher argued the township's enforcement of a 1999 code specifying Legends units cannot be inhabited for more than 30 days at a time, as well as its decision to crack down on other fire and zoning violations, will inevitably lead to evictions. Displaced tenants, Sacher said, will have no where to go and be left out in the cold with winter coming.
Ursin, however, clarified that the township itself would not be conducting evictions. Those orders, he said, would come from a court as part of code violation proceedings and would be carried out by the county sheriff's office. The blame for any evictions in that case, he said, should be directed toward the delinquent landlord.
“The township has laws that it's required to enforce whether they're popular or not,” Councilman Patrick Rizzuto said. “Why pass a law if you don't intend to support it? There's no reason not to.”
Other mattersThe council on Monday also introduced two new ordinances that would affect the township's Environmental Commission and zoning regulations.
Ordinance 16-26 would alter sections of the township code related to the Environmental Commission to reduce the number of members on the Commission and restate the powers of the body. That measure would become effective on Jan. 1, 2017.
Ordinance 16-27 would add an additional permitted zoning use for brew pubs, breweries and distilleries in the Town Center and C-2 Zone. Council President Dan Kadish said the measure follows inquiries from several parties interested in opening such establishments. The question of opening up zoning to allow wineries will be tackled in a different measure, Kadish said.
Public hearing on both ordinances will be held Nov. 28.