SOUTHINGTON, CT — Southington residents will have an opportunity Monday to weigh in on proposed changes to the town's blight ordinance, including a requirement that reported conditions be investigated within 10 days.
The Southington Town Council has scheduled a public hearing for Monday, Sept. 28, at 7 p.m. regarding proposed amendments to the town's blight ordinance.
The hearing follows a Sept. 14 town council discussion during which Southington Town Attorney Louis Martocchio III outlined changes to Chapter 203 of the town ordinances.
Martocchio said officials had spent roughly four or five months working on the revisions, with an emphasis on streamlining the town's process for investigating and enforcing blight complaints.
One of the most significant proposed changes would establish a 10-day period for a reported blight condition to be investigated.
"I know there's been complaints from citizens that they'll make complaints and won't hear anything," Martocchio told the council Sept. 14. "So, we're trying to address those and have these things investigated properly."
The proposal would also allow town employees to report potential blight conditions themselves rather than requiring officials to wait for a complaint from the public.
"It used to be that we'd wait for complaints," Martocchio said. "Now we're allowing staff to go out and, you know, see these things and, you know, not have to necessarily wait on anything else."
Most of the proposed revisions are contained in Section 203-7 of the ordinance, which addresses administration and enforcement, Martocchio said.
Southington Town Council Chairman Paul Chaplinsky also proposed an additional safeguard during the Sept. 14 discussion that he described as a "four eyes principle."
Under Chaplinsky's proposal, after the zoning enforcement officer identifies what they believe is a blighted condition, a higher-level supervisor designated by Southington Town Manager Alex Ricciardone would review the determination before a notice is sent.
"It would just be a review before sending in a notice," Chaplinsky said.
Chaplinsky said he had discussed the idea with Ricciardone, who did not see an issue with the additional review.
According to the town's public hearing notice, the proposed ordinance modifications are available on the Town of Southington's website and are on file in both the town clerk's office and town manager's office.
This would be the second such revision of the blight ordinance in as many years, with the council tweaking the rules in June 2025.
For the minutes of the Sept. 14 Southington Town Council meeting, click on this link.
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