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MINT HILL This town now has the authority to clean up a resident's property or mow their grass and send them the bill. If the property owner doesn't pay, Mint Hill officials can place a lien on their property
Mint Hill commissioners adopted a special law last week, approved for the town in 2006 by the N.C. General Assembly, to allow the town to “remedy the violation” on property of a “chronic violator” – someone who has violated the public nuisance ordinance at least three times during the previous calendar year.
But they again deferred a decision on other revisions to the nuisance ordinance, which would have added definitions, clarified sections of the code and allowed the town's code enforcement officer to issue fines up to $500 per day if the violation persisted.
The town's current nuisance ordinance includes rules and regulations about weeds, tall grass, junk, old cars and other dangerous or unsightly items in yards. Commissioners seemed particularly disturbed about the junk car part of the ordinance and how to distinguish between a junk car, an antique car and a car just undergoing repairs.
A “junk” car is currently defined as one that will not run, has no tag, and is worth $500 or less. Currently, residents can have only one “junk” car on their property and that car must be covered and in the backyard. They can have as many as they want in their garage.
Commissioner Brenda McRae says she thinks the ordinance crosses the boundary of what the board should legislate.
She says she lives in a neighborhood where there aren't many garages and where people need to work on their cars. She says the housing and property maintenance section of the code could force her to cut down the honeysuckle she enjoys along her fence. And she says in these hard times, some folks don't have the resources to clean up their property.
“Some people don't want to cooperate with the town and we have to have the ability to clean their property up. But sometimes someone just needs a helping hand,” McRae said. “I don't want Mint Hill to become a homeowners association. I don't want us going out and policing our neighbors.
“I think people have a right to enjoy the use of their property … I don't believe we ought to be policing aesthetics.”
McRae and commissioner Mickey Ellington will work with assistant town manager Lee Bailey to make further revisions to the ordinance.
