Six properties were hit with liens by the city to recover the cost of cleaning up a half-dozen properties.
City Council approved a resolution (AR-209-18) authorizing the filing of liens against the six properties to recover cleanup costs incurred by the city totaling $1,730. The governing body adopted the resolution during its Oct. 9 regular, public meeting.
The six properties that first were cited with notices to abate nuisances before getting liens placed to recover cleanup costs were:
- 2268 Church St., Block 256/Lot 27, $240
- 845 Hamilton St., Block 174/Lot 8, $280
- 1022 Jefferson Ave., Block 138/Lot 1, $455
- 1316 Maple Terrace, Block 144/Lot 7, $275
- 1186 Mooney Place, Block 179/Lot 5, $285
- Lot at Seminary Avenue and Church Street, Block 166/Lot 14, $195
A code enforcement officer of a municipality is authorized to “serve notices to abate nuisances, including but not limited to brush, weeds, ragweed, dead and dying trees, stumps, roots, obnoxious growth, filth, garbage, trash, and debris,” according to the resolution.
The code enforcement officer is authorized to direct the removal of such nuisances from property after notice of abatement is served and the mandatory compliance period has expired.
At least one of the half-dozen properties recently came out of foreclosure: 1022 Jefferson Ave. went into foreclosure at the end of 2016 and was acquired in February. An East Brunswick-based entity acquired the property for $89,124, according to property records. Assessed for $155,600, the site has a property tax bill of about $10,414.
If my memory serves correctly, applications to build some type of residential structure on the lot at Seminary Avenue and Church Street have come before the Zoning Board of Adjustment within the past decade but have been rejected. The narrow lot was acquired in foreclosure in 2011 by a Fanwood-based entity for $33,000, according to property records, before changing hands again in 2013. This time, a Valley Stream, N.Y.-based paid $75,000 for the property, and the deed notes that “Zoning influence not included in assessment.”