Three landowners in Forest given 30 days to clean up

FOREST — Three landowners in Forest have been given another 90 days to abate the nuisances on their properties or pay the village to do it for them.
Mayor Tom Seem told council Thursday night a second round of letters has been delivered to the three owners which gives them until the end of October to address the high weeds and junk.
“That is ample time,” said Seem. “After that time, the village has the option of taking care of this ourselves. We don’t want to, but we will.”
In dealing with nuisance properties in the village, Seem reported, the village is also seeking financial assistance in removing blighted houses through the Move Ohio Forward Grant. The program makes funding available to communities needing to remove abandoned buildings which pose a health or safety threat.
Each community was given until Aug. 1 to submit a list to the county commissioners of properties within their entity which would qualify for consideration. Forest, said Seem, sent a list of 22 houses.
The village is also working to beef up its junk vehicle ordinance. Solicitor Jason Miller presented a draft of an ordinance based on the Kenton regulations.  He asked council members to review the law and submit any suggestions so the ordinance can be ready for consideration next month.
By the time the regulations are given three readings, said Miller, it will be fall.
“This will probably not be enforced by you until next year,” he said. “But it will be there for you in the spring.”
“This is a good replacement for what we have,” said Seem.
Village Administrator Bob Bristoll reported to council the village continues to address problems from the wind storm which tore through the village in late June.
“There were a number of trees damaged,” said Bristoll. “We have sunk a lot of money in trees this year.”
Some limbs continue to hang from the damaged trees and the village needs to remove about 50 stumps from trees which were removed, he continued. The village is hoping to hear from FEMA and its insurance company before removing any more trees from the storm, Bristoll said.
In other business, council:
- Appointed Todd Sons to replace Bob Burd on council. Burd resigned last month. David Hankins and P.J. Naoscono were also applicants for the open seat.
- Agreed to contract with Comp Management for worker’s compensation coverage.
- Learned the local VFW post is having a blood drive from 2-7 p.m. Aug. 22 at the post.

By DAN ROBINSON
Times staff writer

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Posted by Kenton Times on August 10, 2012. Filed under Local News,Recent Headlines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry