City officials continue push for stricter enforcement of vacant, rundown properties

By Josh Davis, Associate Editor

(Feb. 1, 2018) The Pocomoke City Council last week adopted a new Vacant and Blighted Building Ordinance into town code, giving officials more enforcement tools.

A second reading was held and public hearing was opened and closed without comment, prior to the unanimous passage of the ordinance.

City Manager Bobby Cowger said the law would take 45 days to go into effect.

“We’ll first [send] a letter that their building is in violation of our resolution … then they have 30 days to respond,” he said. “If they don’t, we can fine them up to $500 every 30 days for not putting a plan together and getting with the city to tell us how they’re going to fix it up.”

Cowger said the Vacant and Blighted Building Ordinance would essentially help speed up the revitalization process.

“If they don’t start cleaning [the properties] up themselves, then after the fines build up enough after several months, we can condemn them if we’ve cited them two or three times,” he said. “Then, if we condemn them, they have to clean it up or else we go in and take possession.”

He said the town was targeting about a dozen houses and six vacant buildings downtown “that we’re going to cite immediately.”