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Canfield council tightens construction acceptance and bonding timeline
Summary
Attorney Fortunato told council the ordinance would shorten the interval between when developers build public improvements and the city's acceptance, requiring petition for acceptance at a threshold tied to lot sales and lengthening contractor maintenance responsibility.
Canfield's City Council advanced an ordinance to tighten rules for construction acceptance and developer maintenance bonds after a public hearing where the city attorney said the goal was to reduce the time the city inherits aging improvements.
Attorney Fortunato told the council the change would require a developer to petition the city for acceptance when a specified portion of lots in a development have been sold, triggering inspection and city acceptance. Fortunato said the ordinance would shift responsibility so contractors remain responsible for maintenance longer and the city would not inherit repairs for improvements that have already been in place for many years.
"So we're trying to compress that time period," Fortunato said, explaining the city currently sometimes waits 10 to 15 years before acceptance and that the proposed rule would require earlier petitioning and inspection. Fortunato also said the ordinance clarifies that abatements apply only to construction costs, not land or equipment, in the examples he used while explaining the related Community Reinvestment Area program.
Council used its charter authority to dispense with full reading and to allow adoption on first reading; the item moved forward with council assent during the meeting. The ordinance will be posted and returned for final administrative steps as required by the charter.
The council did not alter the ordinance's stated threshold during the hearing; Fortunato referenced a 75% sold threshold elsewhere in the meeting as the point at which developers would petition for acceptance. The council did not take additional substantive amendments during the session and will publish the ordinance text for public review.
