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Committee discusses litter working group and landlord enforcement as repeated trash complaints persist near campus
Summary
The committee set a November litter-reduction event and debated enforcement options for repeat littering and blight around off‑campus rentals; town staff said citations are issued to landlords under the current ordinance, while UConn said student‑code authority is limited for off‑campus housing.
Mansfield and University of Connecticut officials spent a substantial portion of the meeting discussing persistent litter and landlord enforcement near campus, and the committee agreed to convene a working group and follow up on potential policy changes.
Mayor: “Let’s set a litter working group meeting to hash out perhaps some of these details and who else should be at the table,” Margaret said as she opened the item, proposing a November 14 date for the cleanup event.
Dylan, who has fielded repeated complaints from residents, described concentrated litter problems along Hunting Lodge and North Eagleville Road and urged stronger policy tools for repeat offenders, especially absentee landlords. “Most of it is on Hunting Lodge, North Eagleville Road,” Dylan said, adding that many landlords do not live in town and that repeat offenders drive the problem.
UConn staff said the student code of conduct can be used when an event adversely impacts the university community but has limited reach for students living off campus; town staff explained that the litter ordinance is enforced by issuing citations to property owners (landlords) rather than directly to tenants, complicating attribution and enforcement. “When I’m issuing a citation notice, it’s the landlord,” said a town enforcement official.
Committee members debated whether current nuisance and blight ordinances and registration rules provide sufficient enforcement tools; staff noted that while cancellation of registration is possible, the threshold for revocation is high and litigation risk exists. “It is a pretty high bar,” the mayor said of canceling registration approvals.
The committee asked staff to consider revisions to landlord requirements (for example, providing tenants with trash/recycling information), explore adding a reporting function to report.uconn for concentrated problem areas, and convene a working group with landlords, university representatives and police. UConn staff agreed to discuss whether report.uconn could accept community litter reports and to return to the committee with recommendations.
