BELLOWS FALLS — Two months ago, a group of concerned village residents calling themselves the Better Environment to Reside made an appearance at a public health and safety ordinance discussion during a Village Trustees meeting.
Seth Baldasaro told the Trustees on Sept. 25 that he represented about 35 residents who had come together to discuss “what steps can be taken to make homeowners more accountable for the condition of their property,” adding that the homeowners are taxed more than multi-family properties.
At that meeting, Heather Gleim told the Trustees they had met with Municipal Manager Tim Cullenen and Bellows Falls Police Chief Ron Lake “to preliminarily discuss this issue,” though further clarification of that discussion was not given.
Cullenen noted that there are “605 non-owner occupied residences, 548 single-family homes, and 95 Section 8 housing residencies” in the Village.
That night, Gleim was appointed chair of the Better Environment to Reside Proactive Group, which was created by the Trustees.
At the Oct. 9 Trustees meeting, Baldasaro returned to tell the board that they had “originally come before the board just to inform” them of the formation of the grassroots group, and to voice their frustration with the single-family homeowner tax burden, and the “condition of property in the Village.”
When questioned by a board member, Baldasaro said the Proactive Group's meetings were open to the public and “anyone can come.”
However, when information about the meetings was requested from Gleim by The Commons, she deferred to Suzanne Groenewold.
When queried further about the meetings, Gleim replied, “I do not know when the next meeting is as of yet. The holidays are here and we all have a lot going on.”
In turn, Groenewold, a member of the committee, told The Commons, “We want to improve the look and the feel of the Village. [We are] a group of people who live here who take pride in where we live. We are underrated because of a few people who don't take care of their properties.”
Groenewold said the Proactive Group has many questions about how to achieve its goals.
“How do we get there? How do we make it how we want it to be? By enforcing some ordinance how homes are kept? We've been talking about the police force and having a presence in the downtown area and around town. A strong police presence means good citizens.”
Groenewold said the group is more focused on taxpayers and homeowners.
“We pay the highest tax rate in state and we feel that everybody should hold that fair share of that tax burden whether it's a multifamily home or a single-family home.” Groenewold said. “The police calls, in the majority, are going to rental units around this town. All our services are going to paying for those calls.”
When queried about the accuracy of that statement, Bellows Falls Police Sgt. David Bemis responded that “we do go to rental housing units. But we go to single family dwellings as well.”
Groenewold said her group has asked the Trustees “to look at the multifamily housing units, ensuring that the safety codes abided by.”
The health and safety ordinance draft on the agenda, which was to be discussed at the same Sept. 25 meeting, was tabled as several of the board were uncomfortable with the draft ordinance, and the Trustees president felt the document needed further editing. It was tabled until such time as a majority of the board members wanted it on the agenda.
Under the existing Unsafe Building ordinance and the Vermont rental housing health code, a revolving list of buildings is being maintained by Cullenen, and inspected by either Rockingham Health Officer Ellen Howard or Bellows Falls Fire Chief Bill Weston for health and safety or fire code violations.
At a recent Trustees meeting to clarify their roles and what actions are being taken, Weston said he and Howard work closely with one another passing information back and forth.
Weston said he has been hampered by a lack of cooperation in making appointments with residents to do inspections. He clarified to the board that his inspections only apply to multi-family dwellings, and only the parts of the building that are occupied. He said if only the rear apartment in a building is occupied, he cannot inspect the front apartment.
As a result of an Aug. 8 emergency health order issued by Howard under state statute, an eviction notice was served to tenants at 42 Green St., giving 20 residents two weeks to vacate. The building is owned by Pinecliff Holdings, LLC, Scott and Veronica Cooper, who live out of state and did not respond to attempts at communication from Howard prior to the eviction notice to the tenants.
The emergency health order noted that the porch was in poor condition and deemed “not available for use.” In spite of a rear stairway entrance, the order said there was “no other access to the building except the three-story porch entrance.”
With no response from the owners, and the “imminent and substantial threat to the occupants and public,” an emergency order was issued and granted.
The Unsafe Building ordinance is available for review on the town and village website (rockbf.org).