BURLINGTON – Fayette Township trustees will clean up more than a dozen overgrown lots this summer, then will charge the costs to landowners’ property tax bills.

Thursday, April 20, 2000

BURLINGTON – Fayette Township trustees will clean up more than a dozen overgrown lots this summer, then will charge the costs to landowners’ property tax bills.

Trustees have been researching property records and planned to send certified letters to the owners this week explaining the plans, trustee president Terry Wise said.

They also will ask for community involvement.

The township is using an Ohio Revised Code statute that allows the cleanup cost tie-in with property taxes, trustee Perry Brock said.

It’s the first time trustees have used that law, he said.

"We want to see the area cleaned up and either they’re going to clean it up or we will," Wise said.

The 10 to 15 lots the township plans to clean have trash, tires and other garbage mixed in with overgrown brush and trees, he said.

The township cannot afford to tear down burned out or dilapidated homes, which are on some of the lots, but they can make the lots less of an eyesore, trustee Perry Brock said.

And clearing away brush and trash means less of a health risk, he said.

The cleanup will at least keep the snakes, mosquitoes and rats away, Wise said.

Trustees will work the cleanup June 5-10, the same week as the Burlington Concerned Citizens annual cleanup.

"The trustees always support us and take an active part but this something new," president Harriette Ramsey said.

"And it’s something we’ve tried do for a long time, to get some of the property that’s been abandoned or not taken care of cleaned up so we’re certainly glad to see it happen," Mrs. Ramsey said.

The concerned citizens will clean up litter and invite landowners to put out trash and junk for free pickup during the cleanup week, she said.

Mrs. Ramsey also added a call for the community to help during the cleanup.

"This will be an opportunity for everyone to come out and help us make Burlington a better place to live and play," she said.

Trustees want the community to become involved in the vacant lot cleanup effort, too, Wise said.

"If they don’t get involved, we don’t have enough help to do it," he said. "A small effort would make the area look a lot better."

Trustees hope people will come out that week and pitch in, either with hands-on work or equipment, Wise said. And the township plans to seek help from jail workers.

The township wants to send a wake-up call to owners, some of whom live elsewhere, that they have let their property get into bad shape, he added.

"Maybe if we get them cleaned up, they’ll take more pride in their property," Brock said. "It’s a start."

With the interest in community cleanups spreading across the county because of the county’s need to attract new industry, the time to do it in Fayette is now, the trustees said.

"You have to keep it clean where you can get business to come in," Brock said.

Townships are always looking for growth, too, he said.

"I think we’ll have a good reaction," Wise said. "These lots have been problems for years. And everybody has been wanting us to do it for awhile now."

Property owners might complain about paying the cleanup costs, but the lots are health and safety hazards and the work must be done, Brock said.

"If you keep your lot cleaned up, mowing a couple of times a year even, they won’t look like that," he said.