Frenchtown Woods Maintenance Corp.

NEW CASTLE COUNTY TO BEGIN INSTANT TICKETING PROGRAM

Jul 11, 2008

NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release Contact: C.R. McLeod
Tuesday, July 1, 2008 Office: (302) 395-5106, Cell: (302) 757-6883

NEW CASTLE COUNTY TO BEGIN INSTANT TICKETING PROGRAM ON TUESDAY, JULY 1, 2008

New Castle, DE ?– After receiving approval from County Council, New Castle County will begin its instant ticketing program on Tuesday, July 1, 2008.

This initiative, through which civil penalties may be assessed by the County for select property maintenance infractions, is being pursued to more efficiently attain code compliance on properties owned and/or managed by difficult property owners, and to help offset the costs of code enforcement.

Under this new program, after a complaint is received by the Office of Code Enforcement, a courtesy letter and accompanying brochure will be mailed to the owner of the property about which a complaint was received and any tenants, if applicable. The purposes of the courtesy letter and brochure are to explain the ticketing process, place property owners on notice of the infractions that may be subject to instant ticketing and outline the appeals process. The property owner will then have 10 days from the date of the letter to resolve all violations identified through the information contained in the one page brochure before a code enforcement officer performs an official inspection. If any violations are observed during that first inspection, a $50.00 fine will be assessed to the property owner for each violation. The ?“ticket?” must then be paid within 30 days to avoid the doubling to $100 per violation.

?“Last year, the 13 member Code Enforcement unit issued more than 22,000 violations for code infractions that will be included in the ticketing program, with some taking many months to resolve through the court system,?” said County Executive Chris Coons. ?“We believe this program will be more effective in addressing and correcting violations that residents experience in their communities,?” he added.

The most common violations include weeds/grass in excess of 8 inches, vehicles parked on the grass, inoperable or unregistered vehicles, shrubs and trees blocking sidewalks, oversized vehicles, accumulation of trash, rubbish and debris, accessory structures in disrepair, outside storage of household furniture and swimming pools/hot tubs not in good repair or in an unsanitary state.

Complaints may be filed with the County by calling Customer Relations & Assistance, at 302-395-5555, or via the internet at: http://www.co.new-castle.de.us/landuse/home/webpage2.asp. For more information, visit http://www.co.new-castle.de.us/landuse/home/webpage2.asp

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