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AUSTINTOWN -- Township trustees recently declared 19 properties nuisances. The list includes the home of a man recently released from prison for attempting to set his wife on fire.
The nuisance declaration gives the owners limited time to remedy the problems on the property before the township resolves them at the owner's cost.
If the owner refuses or fails to resolve the problems, any costs the township incurs to get rid of the nuisance will be levied as a lien on the property's tax bill.
Trustees acted on the latest problems Aug. 28.
Zoning Inspector Darren Crivelli said the nuisances are brought to his attention through complaints from neighbors. They usually involve high grass or piles of debris likely to attract rats.
Crivelli said he tries to work with property owners to resolve the problems before having trustees declare the property a nuisance under the Ohio Revised Code.
"If it's a pile of debris that will not draw rats, I usually just send a letter giving them 10 days," he said. "For cars, it's usually 20 days. If they're not restored to an operative state or put in a garage or removed from the property, then I have them declared a nuisance."
Crivelli said the nuisance declaration is not intended to embarrass anyone but is used as a tool for the township to bring property owners into compliance. In some cases, though, the township takes on a greater burden, effectively becoming the caretaker of a property.
"Any time you have vacant homes that are in foreclosure or going to sheriff's sale, those tend to be a problem," he said. "But there are also plenty of occupied homes that keep me busy, where people are just not living in compliance with code."
RESOURCES
Crivelli said the township only has so many resources and so much time to handle the demands.
"If we have to take over cutting a yard, we're going to do the best we can for that neighborhood, but usually that's not going be more than once a month," he said.
The Vindicator found that one of the properties on the list, 2434 Amberly Drive, is owned by Kirk A. Miller. The property fell into disrepair while Miller was in prison for assaulting his wife and attempting to set her on fire.
In April 2021, Miller pleaded guilty to felonious assault, attempted aggravated arson, abduction and domestic violence. He was released on Feb. 3 of this year from Noble Correctional Facility in Caldwell, Ohio.
According to a police report from the time, he threatened to kill his wife and struck her with the barrel of a shotgun, before lighting a piece of paper on fire and throwing it at her as she was sitting on the bed while packing her things to leave him. The paper caught a blanket on fire and she put it out with a can of pop because the house had no running water.
At the time, police reported that the house was "very very unsanitary," and smelled of old garbage and dog feces, and many flies and other insects were present.
Crivelli said the township has been mowing the property ever since Miller went to prison and continues to do so even though Miller has been released.
SHORTER LIST
Crivelli said this list is much shorter than nuisance lists used to be.
"We might have a half dozen that are vacant nuisances, and either the neighbors take care of them or the bank does," he said. "But 10 or 12 years ago, we had anywhere from 150 to 200."
Crivelli said that over the past 15 years, the township has taken down 100 homes that were deemed structurally unsound by the fire inspector or found uninhabitable by the Mahoning County Board of Health. The 100th home, at 5360 W. Rockwell Road, just came down within the past month.
He said the Mahoning County Land Bank has removed at least 15 homes in the township and two more, on Ohltown Road, are scheduled to come down soon.
"We just don't have the number of vacant homes we used to, and it's also a function of a better, more robust housing market," he said.