Franklin planning commission to consolidate nuisance, blight and abatement rules; seeks priorities from council

The Village of Franklin Planning Commission on Dec. 10 agreed to consolidate scattered nuisance, blight and abatement provisions into a single nuisance section and to create a model ordinance the commission will recommend to the village council.

Trustee Saldi, the council liaison, told the commission the council favors ‘‘expansion of coverage for nuisance nuisance abatement and that we want it consolidated into a single section so that residents don't have to go and search for any of the provisions, that it's all in 1 consolidated place.’’ He asked commissioners to review council feedback and identify priorities to bring back for a recommendation.

Chair opened the discussion by asking for practical steps the commission could take, including copying existing ordinance language into one consolidated section and producing a redline showing where items were moved. The chair held up adding ‘‘inoperable’’ to existing recreational-vehicle language as an example of a low-hanging change that could be folded into the nuisance section.

Commissioners agreed to prioritize safety-related items—such as inoperable vehicles and hazardous materials, habitable-dwelling concerns, and accumulation of rubbish—while treating items like storage of firewood and graffiti as lower priorities based on council survey rankings. One commissioner who reviewed neighboring villages’ codes said Franklin’s language is scattered across the code and offered to share comparative documents to inform drafting.

The commission also debated whether to include a formal hardship clause. One commissioner urged that ‘‘something could be worded in there that is very gentle and acknowledges’’ residents who face financial or health hardships, while Trustee Saldi cautioned a formal hardship exemption could create ‘‘an objective standard, to not be a loophole for people to just claim hardship’’ and prefers administrative discretion exercised by the village administrator and code-enforcement officer.

Chair and commissioners emphasized that enforcement to date has often been complaint-driven and that the enforcement officer has sometimes worked compassionately with residents, including helping with cleanups; they asked council for guidance before drafting substantive hardship language.

Practical next steps: the presenter and staff will send the commission the Excel priority matrix and Chris’s original letter for side-by-side comparison; commissioners will draft consolidated text and return recommendations to council. The commission scheduled follow-up work and asked staff to circulate the working files by email.

The planning commission did not make a final ordinance change on Dec. 10; it adopted a process to produce a consolidated nuisance section and prioritized items for council review.