Sussex County can better act to clean up untidy properties in southern Delaware.
County Council passed three ordinances shifting the County’s investigation and enforcement of unkempt properties from the courts to administrative practice.
Legislation passed by the Delaware General Assembly earlier this year allowed County Council to make the change.
County Administrator Todd Lawson says it should streamline the process.
"It takes something that maybe would take months and cuts it down to weeks," said Lawson. "Then at that point you have the ability to ask the property owner to correct the problem and if they can't or won't or refuse the County can take action and actually fix the problem, cut the grass, remove the trash, and do so in a manner which we then charge the property owner for that effort."
If the property owner fails to adhere to the County’s demands, the owner will face fines, according to Lawson.
"We ask them to try to correct the problem because we've been given a complaint. We're still complaint-driven," sais Lawson. "When a complaint comes in, normally by a neighbor, we go out and investigate. So the one-on-one human interaction is the way that we try to correct the problem first, and then go down the line through due process. Eventually if they failed to correct or fail to act, that's when the fines come in place."
Violations the County will look for include tall grass that’s about a foot tall or more, excessive trash, and inoperable vehicles on private property in the unincorporated parts of the county.
