$400,,000 in grants for Middletown home improvement accounted for after 5 days; code enforcement continues

Middletown’s cash grant program that offers homeowners money for home repairs or clean up work was so popular last week the application process was closed after five days.

An estimate 50 people were in line early July 22 at the city’s community and economic development department to apply for the Home Improvement Repair Program that allows homeowners to receive up to $8,500 in grant funding for costs incurred during the repair/improvement process.

The grant program is being done in coordination with the city’s code enforcement crack down.

The city is running a Code Enforcement District Sweep through Sept. 13. During a two-week period, all five code enforcement specialists will be concentrated in one district to do comprehensive house-by-house outdoor inspections.

Nearing the end of the first two week sweep, hundreds of violations had been handed out, according to city officials

The districts and their sweep dates are:

District 2 (Through Aug. 2): South, Prospect, Douglass, Meadowlawn, Amanda/Oneida
District 3 (Aug. 5 - Aug. 16): Sherman, Highlands, Barbara Park, Mayfield
District 4 (Aug. 19 - Aug. 30): Sunset/Park Place, El Dorado/Williamsdale, University, Wildwood, Avalon, Riverside Village, Dixie Heights, Springhill, Northeast, Manchester Meadows
District 5 (Sept. 2 - Sept. 13): Sawyer’s Mill, Rosedale/The Oaks, Creekview, Euclid Heights/Runnymede, Lewis/Clifton Farms, Greenfields, Far Hills, Thorny Acres/Burnham Woods, Towne Mall, New England Heights, Renaissance

The sweep includes two separate checks, one for nuisance violations and another for violations of the Middletown development code and property maintenance. Most common violations of the property maintenance code are for sidewalks and driveways; accessory structures; premises identification; foundations; exterior walls, roofs, gutters and drainage; stairways, decks and porch; handrails and guardrails.

The code specialists are also looking for nuisance violations such as tall grass and weeds (no higher than six inches), accumulation of garbage, litter and rubbish, plus trees and shrubbery.

At the July 16 city council meeting, Assistant City Manager Ashley Combs said code specialists had issued 375 property maintenance violations.

During this abatement period, the violations are expected to be corrected before a recheck by a code specialist. Tenants of rentals will not be fined or cited into court for property maintenance violations – only nuisance and zoning violations. The time to fix or repair the violations are: tall grass, trees, trash, seven days; parking on grass, illegal expansion of driveway, etc., 20 days, and property maintenance, 30 days.

The city appropriated $800,000 in ARPA funds for neighborhood improvement programs, which included two Trash Bash dumping days and the first round of the grant program in May. About $400,000 was left for the cash grant program. By Thursday, city leaders announced via social media that applications would close on Friday.

The funds in the second round were allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Up to 50% of the grant award may be requested to be paid in advance of the project with the remaining 50% to be paid as a reimbursement after verified completion. All residents west of Breiel Boulevard were eligible.

“When we saw the line Monday, we knew it would be big,” said Clayton Castle, the city’s communications director.

Around 170 applications were received and Castle estimate only about 60 would be accepted either because of no additional funding or the project did not meet specifications.

Improvement projects that are not eligible are: swimming pools, spas or hot tubs; landscaping, plant materials, or gardens; underground utilities, storm lines; play equipment and new detached accessory structures or additions.