Property issues take teamwork

Published 12:00 am Sunday, August 15, 2010

The problem is one that spans the entire county. Every village faces it. The townships struggle to address it. The city certainly isn’t exempt from the challenges.

The words used to describe the myriad of issues may vary — eyesores, unmaintained property, deadbeat owners, code enforcement — but the end result is always the same: Some residents allow their property to impact their neighbors.

The most recent complaint to the Lawrence County Commissioners came from a group pf Burlington resident who are upset by an abandoned trailer. By they are not even close to being alone in this plight.

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You can find abandoned property or poorly maintained property everywhere in the county. There are a variety of individual approaches being taken to address the problems that include abandoned structures, grass and weeds so high they become hazardous, trash being dumped illegally and many more.

The city health department tries to address the problems in Ironton. The Lawrence-Scioto Solid Waste Management District is focusing on some the worst areas. Several of the townships and the villages have put pressure on property owners by paying to cleanup the problems and then adding the expenses to the tax bills.

County Commissioner Les Boggs requested to set up a meeting with the county health board to determine how to rid the county of such eyesores and health hazards. That meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. Aug. 23.

This is a good start that hopefully could be expanded.

Now is a good time to take a holistic approach to this problem and get agencies from across the county working together.

No matter what you call it, property maintenance is a problem that concerns each and every citizen.