HOLYOKE, Mass. (WWLP) – The city of Holyoke continues its efforts to enforce fines for building code violations.
Holyoke property owners, facing fines, expressed their frustrations Tuesday night over how the city has been enforcing compliance for building code violations. The mayor tells 22News he is working to refine this process while making sure property owners are still being held accountable.
“The fines are what’s allowed under the state building code so that is what the city went with, as to receipt of the communication, many of these were sent in the beginning via certified mail so we do have a lot of return receipts for them,” says Jane Mantolesky with Holyoke’s Law Department. And those notices were issued to hundreds of property owners at the beginning of the year.
While the city reports that many are complying, some fines continue to accrue for others who have not responded to the notice as the deadline to pay approaches in December. Mayor Garcia says, “What we want is for people to work with the building department. There’s opportunity and flexibility for discretion as we try to work with property owners to navigate the requirements of the law.”
Holyoke’s Law Department says property owners who work with the building department could have their fines lowered as much as 80%, or waived completely. But their concerns aren’t going unheard, as the city revaluates the compliance process.
Leslie Ward with the Holyoke Building Department tells 22News, “Come to a good agreement with property owners so that we can not put people out of business and improve the quality of life, and make things safe. For people.”
Some property owners are calling for a temporary moratorium on the violations and associated fines, but it’s unclear at this time if that will be a step taken by the city. Garcia strongly encourages property owners to respond to their notice, and reach out to the building department. as well as the law department to work on the fines.
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