THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 19, 1995 TAG: 9507190406
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
Despite talk that Suffolk's beleaguered housing inspections program was ``back on track,'' the city's battle against blight actually has been stalled for several months, according to officials.
The reasons for the delay are all internal. Violations swamped the local court system, and a conflict between the city attorney and Suffolk's top housing inspector temporarily scuttled the program.
Suffolk officials plan to introduce a revised program today at the City Council work session. Unlike the prior inspections program, which is less than a year old, the new approach has concrete goals, relies heavily on the help of neighborhoods and will streamline the penalty process for housing violators.
``One of the things we've had to do is rethink the program,'' said Assistant City Manager William E. Harrell. ``There's a new focus for the program. We want to work through the neighborhood organizations for them to initiate cleanup activities. We're not scaling back but re-focusing.''
The revised inspection's program will get a major boost from new state legislation eliminating the need for a ``bill in equity'' for each home found in violation of the city's housing code.
The ``bill in equity'' required the city to give a detailed account of the housing violations, a time-consuming process that delayed getting violators through the court system.
In addition, the city is preparing to amend the city code to create a range of penalties for housing violations. Some judges were reluctant to impose the $100 civil penalty on citizens who were unable to pay.
``We have to be honest,'' said Harrell. ``We did have to cease activity for some period of time to change our course. But we see significant progress over the next three to six months.''
The city has made contact with civic leagues in Pughsville and Huntersville and plans to meet with residents in Jericho and Lloyd Place to begin the program.
Suffolk has long been plagued by inadequate and dilapidated housing. Large segments of downtown Suffolk are packed with vacant or barely standing homes. Absentee landlords and poverty have added to the city's housing woes.
An affordable-housing study recently found that in some sections of Suffolk, 35 percent of the total housing is dilapidated. There has been a 320 percent increase in the use of mobile homes - an indicator to the study's sponsors that affordable housing is hard to find.
Suffolk's systematic inspections program began last October and was expected to monitor housing conditions throughout the city. The city has done inspections on a complaint-only basis.
Problems with the new inspections program first arose last February when Suffolk General District Court became swamped by the huge number of housing violations. After four months, more than half of the 1,795 violations remained. As a result, City Manager Myles E. Standish temporarily suspended the program. He formed a task force to revise it and later said the program was ``back on track.''
Things got worse in May when Suffolk City Attorney C. Edward Roettger Jr. wrote to Harrell, saying that he and his staff refused to work on any case involving the city's inspections department and lead housing inspector Vanessa Savage.
City officials, Roettger and Savage have refused to detail the conflict.
Roettger met with the City Council in executive session last month to discuss the issue. He later said the matter was resolved.
``There are no ongoing concerns at this point,'' said Harrell on Tuesday. ``There is cooperation between the city attorney's office and the housing division.'' by CNB