The Greene County Board of Supervisors decided at their meeting this week that they will not pursue establishing a county-wide nuisance ordinance.

Less than one month ago, on June 9th, the Supervisors discussed the possibility of creating a nuisance ordinance for the unincorporated parts of the county to better handle complaints from people about the appearance of rural properties.

County Attorney Nicola Martino requested that the Board take over the responsibilities of the final decision on what is and isn’t deemed a nuisance property.

Chair John Muir explains some of the complications the Board had following June’s initial conversation.

“At that time we were hesitant about how that would be implemented.  How you would have an ordinance that made sense and was balanced.”

However, the County already has a current system to handle those types of issues which start with the initial complaint going through the County Zoning and Sanitarian Tim Healy and then the complaint is taken to the County Attorney’s office to be sorted out through the legal action.

Muir points out why the Board decided against establishing a nuisance ordinance.

“We felt comfortable, at this point, we can handle any problems through that procedure and get accomplished what we want to do rather than opening that can of worms of any new ordinance.”

If anyone has any questions about what constitutes a nuisance property in the rural parts of the county, call the County Sanitarian or the County Attorney’s office.