City May Approve Update to Nuisance Ordinance

Salisbury city leaders are aiming to update a law to help weed out the bad eggs. 

The Property Maintenance Chronic Nuisance Property ordinance has been successful in doing that since 2014, but  the city is now looking to build on it's success.

The City of Salisbury is looking to weed out bad residents by updating a law that identifies nuisance properties by looking at the number of citations the location receives. 

Originally the City only considered code enforcement citations, but with the amendment police citations such as noise violations will also be considered. 

"So we combined those two things to say whether its a police call for service or an enforcement call for service those two things combined lead to an image of whats going on with that house." 

The amendment to the Property Maintenance Chronic Nuisance Property will also change the maximum number of citations allowed during a year span from five to seven. 

Once the property hits that limit, the tenants would be evicted and the landlord would be forbidden from renting that property out for at least six months. 

A tenant can appeal the decision for $100 but Councilman R. Hardy Rudasill fears that price may be too high for some.  

"I just want to make sure that individuals that might be financially challenged aren't shut out of the appellate process that they have full access to the process just in case there's any to make sure every party has the opportunity to fully be heard." 

If it passes the Day says it will help maintain the quality of neigborhoods – something councilwoman April Jackson agrees with. 

Her only fear is where the bad renters will go next. 

"Sometimes you do have renters in your community that are a common nuisance. My only problem with that is if you evict these persons they are just going to move to another community." 

The council is expected to vote on the proposal at the end of the month.