Grace period over (10/21/2008)

There will be no more second chances for those who violate junk vehicle and junk property ordinances in Portland.

Members of a local board have approved amendments to two city ordinances that eliminate the grace period for repeat offenders.

The Portland City Council approved the changes Monday night.

The changes mean that any property owner who violates the city nuisance ordinance or the abandoned vehicle ordinance will automatically get a ticket for repeat offenses in a one-year period.

The one-year period begins after the first violation occurs.

The nuisance ordinance prohibits property owners from allowing junk or rubbish to accumulate on their property. The abandoned vehicle ordinance, sometimes also referred to as the junk vehicle ordinance, states that any vehicle parked at a property must be drivable and have a current license plate.

Before the ordinance changes were approved, a property owner was given five to seven days to clean up their land. If the property was not cleaned up, the person was written a ticket to appear in city court. If the offense was repeated, the person again was given time to clean up their property.

The circumstances for junk vehicles were similar. The property owner was given 72 hours to remove the vehicle.

With the ordinance amendments, those who repeatedly violate these rules will not be given time to clean up their properties or remove the vehicles. They will automatically be written tickets.

Bob Sours, chief of Portland police, suggested the amendments at the Oct. 6 council meeting because the same people were violating the ordinances over and over again.

Also Monday, council members:

•Heard council member Judy Aker thank city officials for erecting an additional school zone sign on Floral Avenue.

"I have noted a big slow down in the traffic," she said.

Aker asked at a previous council meeting for the sign to be installed because she had noticed increased and faster traffic in the area near General Shanks Elementary School. More traffic is in the area because of redirection of traffic due to work on the Boundary Pike/Wayne Street project.

•Learned that a pre-construction meeting for the river path project was held Friday.

Bruce Hosier, mayor of Portland, said that Brooks Construction hopes to install the path yet this year. The path will begin along Meridian Street and run east along River Road, across Wayne Street to a pedestrian bridge across the Salamonie River and into a trailhead at Hudson Family Park. The pathway will largely be funded through a matching grant from the Indiana Department of Transportation.

•Heard Hosier report that he attended the annual meeting of the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns last week and was re-elected to its executive board. He will serve a two-year term.[[In-content Ad]]