Housing code targeted for significant change

By: Vic Monaco
   HIGHTSTOWN — If the borough wants to more effectively deal with housing violations, including overcrowding, it needs a significant revamping of it housing code.
   That was the message delivered by two members of the Housing Code Committee who recently addressed Borough Council.
   "There’s no continuity, there’s no consistency and there’s certainly no clarity," said committee member Lisa Ernst.
   A nine-page report presented Oct. 16 by the committee chairman, Christopher Emigholz, suggested, among other things:
   • defining overcrowding in the code;
   • establishing a specific maximum occupancy based on the specifics of individual homes;
   • possibly making it easier to have a legal and registered boarding/rooming house so there will be less illegal overcrowding;
   • increasing borough fines for property owners who violate local or state law;
   • creating an English/Spanish pamphlet that includes housing codes and borough phone numbers and;
   • hiring additional help for the housing officer, possibly paying for that through renters fees.
   The report states that overcrowding is a problem more related to privately owned homes as opposed to rental units, which were the bigger problem in recent years. And while the borough issues two types of certificates of occupancy — one for rental properties and one for owner-occupied single-family homes — there is no other mention, let alone a definition, of the latter in the code. In some cases, Ms. Ernst said, the borough is sending owner-occupied COs to out-of-town addresses.
   Councilman Ryan Rosenberg said it’s important for the borough also to define the word "family."
   "In America we think one thing; in other cultures it’s a totally different thing," he said.
   Borough Attorney Fred Raffetto said such a definition can’t be restricted to blood relatives.
   Mr. Raffetto said he would work on code changes.
   Ms. Ernst said, "It’s an important issue with so many new units coming into the borough"
   Mayor Bob Patten acknowledged "there’s a lot that can be worked on."
   Residents complained in the summer of 2005 about overcrowding, most specifically about a building on North Main Street, with some suggesting amendments to the borough’s code. In response, Mayor Patten set up the committee.