Otherwise, you risk being fined
“If we’re going to have the kind of community that we want, this has to stop.”
Those were the words of Mayor Joe D’Onofrio on Monday evening as he urged people to simply mow their lawns, trim their trees and keep the weeds under control.
When he spoke, the Village Board was in the middle of a public hearing on the property maintenance violations on 10 Highland Falls residences. No one from any of the 10 properties showed up.
Thus, the board acted to hire contractors to mow the grass and trim the weeds of those properties, and each property owner will be charged for that service, as well as a $300 administrative fee.
“We know, spring is here — the sun is warm and it’s been raining, and the grass and weeds are growing,” D’Onofrio said. “But not everyone is keeping ahead of it.”
It’s an ongoing problem, with D’Onofrio noting that nearly half of those on the list of ten were “repeat offenders” from last summer. It was noted that back in December, the board added to its code for Property Maintenance, and now, on the third violation, “you have to go to court”, the mayor said.
“In addition to the fines that we will levy, when you go to court there are additional fines — up to $1000 and 15 days to one year term of imprisonment,” D’Onofrio said. “I don’t know that any one is going to go to jail for not cutting their grass, but we’re hoping that after a while people in the village will realize it’s just cheaper to cut your grass than to go through any of this process.”
The properties dealt with on Monday were: 72 Mountain Ave., 97 Mountain Ave., 131 Mountain Ave., 22 Mountain Ave., 17 Liberty St., 25 Liberty St., 53 Villa Parkway, 6 Catherine St., 28 Walnut Ave., and 10 Muller Ave.
