Liens placed against abandoned properties to pay for mowing
By Peter Sclafani, Staff Writer
UPPER FREEHOLD — The township is using a new ordinance to place liens against three abandoned houses in order to recoup the cost of having to hire contractors to mow the grass.
Township Construction Official Ron Gafgen said the last owners of record were sent certified letters advising them they had 10 days to cut their overgrown lawns, and that 10-day period expired Monday.
The township will now send out a private contractor to do the work at 14 Mason Drive, 12 Denise Drive and 1275 Old York Road, he said. Liens will be placed against the properties so that taxpayers are eventually reimbursed once the properties are sold.
The owner of a fourth property at 3 Greens Court was also sent a notice, but no legal action is being taken against that property at this time because the lawn was cut by Monday’s deadline, Mr. Gafgen said.
A new municipal ordinance adopted at the June 21 Township Committee meeting is designed to address problems that arise when banks holding the mortgage on abandoned residences fail to maintain the lawns during the foreclosure process. One of the properties in question had grass that was 2 feet tall in places last month.
The ordinance authorizes Upper Freehold to hire independent contractors to mow grass of “unreasonable height,” defined as 10 inches high or more, and then place liens against the property to eventually recoup the expense.
The ordinance does not apply to residential or commercial properties that are still occupied, although at least one township committeeman indicated that he thought it should.
”I know there’s some properties that aren’t abandoned that are getting overgrown too, so why are we eliminating them?” Township Committeeman Robert Faber asked prior to the vote.
Mayor LoriSue Mount said the municipality was trying to avoid becoming “Big Brother,” and that the ordinance is only intended to “address what’s going unaddressed in a more timely manner with properties that are abandoned.”
Deputy Mayor Steve Alexander observed that it would be problematic for the township to hire a contractor to go to a house where people are still living.
”We’re not going to be able to send a contractor without (him) probably facing a shotgun from a homeowner who’s still living there,” Mr. Alexander said.
Township officials said at the meeting that there have been no complaints from township residents about high lawns at occupied houses, only abandoned ones. Mr. Gafgen told the Township Committee that if he should receive a complaint in the future concerning a home where someone is still living, he would try to resolve the situation by communicating directly with the owner.
There was no comment from the audience during the public hearing on the ordinance, which was adopted by a 5-0 vote.
—Joanne Degnan contributed to this story.

