Sleepy Hollow launching new code enforcement program

Putting up fences, building sheds and leaving commercial vehicles in driveways are three of the most common village code violations seen by Sleepy Hollow Police Chief James Linane.

Lately, however, the village has let some of those violations fall through the cracks, he said, and the ordinances have not been enforced as strongly as they should be.

Early this month, Sleepy Hollow will launch a village code enforcement program that allows officials to better address those issues, Linane said.

"There's been some slippage in conforming with some ordinances," said Village President Stephan Pickett. "We've talked about it for years, and now we've finally got an opportunity to put some kind of small enforcement program together."

The village is putting $10,000 into the program, most of which will go toward paying two part-time code enforcement officers, he said. Those officers will handle the violations they see while driving around or hear about from residents who complain.

"It's a small start, but I think it's going to get some people's attention and hopefully their cooperation," Pickett said, noting that a set enforcement policy has never been in place for a substantial period of time.

Residents who violate a code will receive violation notices and be given a certain amount of time to fix the problem, he said.

Those who do not comply will be fined $50 per day until that violation is fixed, Linane said. If that still doesn't work, a resident may have to appear in court.

"We're hoping we don't have to do that. We just want to make the village the way it's supposed to be," Linane said. "We have to control the code enforcement so people are happy with where we live. Our goal is to get compliance, not to issue tickets."

Pickett added that an adjudication process also will be in place for residents who want to challenge their fine.

Because the program is new, it may take some time for the code enforcement officers to catch up on all the complaints that have been called into the village, Linane said.

"We're easing into it," he said. "We do expect there will be a lot of people unaware that they may have violated a village code. We're going to try and work with them."

He added that each violation has to be handled on a case-by-case basis.

"One man's junk is another man's treasure," Linane said. "We've got to be the referees."