Town officials will take a softball approach to resolving a rising tide of open space violations before turning to legal recourse, First Selectman Rudy Marconi said recently.
Marconi met privately with members of the Conservation Commission to discuss the incursions on town open space land, and he said they agreed to talk things over with the homeowners first and foremost.
“Sometimes sitting over a cup of coffee and trying to work it out is better than going to the legal counsel approach,” Marconi said of the results of the meeting in his office. “If we do get into these predicaments, we can try to work out a resolution that is fair for everyone.”
Twenty-six percent of the town land is considered open space. People have been mowing town open space property as if it is their own, putting fences up on open space, building sheds on open space, and have also been illegally dumping on open space, according to Kitsey Snow, a member of the Conservation Commission.
Snow detailed the problem last month in a story in The Press in which she said illegal off-trail biking and all-terrain-vehicle riding is just the tip of the iceberg of the open space violations. The more serious problem is land reclamation.
The town has the right to fine people $100 a day for violations. But the town tries to handle the cases verbally, with phone calls and letters, before it gets to the point of fines and the involvement of an attorney.
Snow and other members of the Conservation Commission could not be reached for comment, but Marconi said the town counsel would be called upon only after meetings for coffee over the problems fail.
He said they have several longstanding cases.
“People probably unknowingly infringed on open space, not knowing where their property line is, some more egregious than others,” Marconi said. “If in fact the commission has exhausted all remedies and still lacks resolution, then at that point it would come to the town counsel for appropriate action.”
Town officials set no specific timetable for completing the coffee table discussions.
The post Talking it out is plan A on open space violations appeared first on The Ridgefield Press.