Editorial: Enfield’s Revised Blight Ordinance Isn’t Ready for a Public Hearing

 

AI generated art via ChatGPT

The Enfield Town Council tonight may set a public hearing date for a revised blight ordinance. In its current form, this proposal is not ready for public hearing and needs significant changes before moving forward.

Anonymous Complaints

While the ordinance itself still requires signed complaints, Enfield’s revised blight complaint form explicitly accepts anonymous complaints and signals that they may still be investigated. That represents a clear shift from the town’s prior policy, which discouraged anonymous filings and stated that the town was not required to investigate them.

Historically, Enfield’s practice has been to reject anonymous complaints. For example, on SeeClickFix — the town’s reporting platform — a town official wrote in response to one blight complaint:

“All complaints require a signature. Currently this complaint is showing anonymous. Please add your full name and contact information to this complaint.”

That was the standard approach. The revised form moves away from it.

Do some towns ban anonymous blight complaints altogether? Yes. A cursory review shows that multiple Connecticut municipalities require blight complaints to be written and signed. Fairfield, for instance, requires complaints to be signed and does not accept anonymous filings.

Accepting anonymous complaints — even with “lower priority” language — creates the potential for misuse. Priority affects speed, not legitimacy. Once an inspection occurs, the source of the complaint no longer matters.

Cosmetic Issues Can Lead to Hefty Fines

Enfield’s blight ordinance does not distinguish between genuine health and safety hazards and purely cosmetic issues. This proposal doesn't fix it. 

Under the ordinance, conditions such as:

-- grass over 12 inches

-- chipping or peeling paint

-- minor overgrowth

-- broken stockade fence

But these issues are treated as the same as serious blight conditions, such as a hole in a roof.

This is where the combination becomes dangerous. If anonymous complaints are accepted, residents can nitpick neighbors they don’t like over minor, cosmetic issues that pose little or no health or safety risk.

Consider Alternative Approaches  

A better approach exists. Some communities use a threshold model, where cosmetic issues can rise to the level of blight only if two or three conditions are present, signaling a broader pattern of neglect rather than a single, minor defect.

No Hardship Provision

There is no hardship provision in Enfield’s blight ordinance, and that is a serious omission.

An owner-occupied home may fall into disrepair for legitimate reasons: a medical crisis, disability, loss of income, or other hardship. The town mission is to protect residents. It has a responsible to enforce blight laws, but to also ensure it understands the underlying reason for it.

Many ordinances elsewhere include hardship waivers for elderly residents, individuals with disabilities, or low-income homeowners, along with mechanisms to provide assistance rather than punishment. Enfield’s ordinance offers none of that.

The Bottom Line

As written, the ordinance allows a neighbor to file an anonymous complaint over something minor — a crack in a driveway, for example — and once cited, the town can impose $100-per-day fines if the issue is not remediated.

Half the driveways in town have cracks.

This ordinance needs stronger protections, and a better balance between enforcement and fairness before it goes to public hearing.

Proposed complaint form

Current complaint form