Henry County looks at nuisance ordinance

Henry County may be looking to enact a new nuisance ordinance to deal with dilapidated buildings and tall grass in the unincorporated areas of the county. Henry County Planning and Zoning Administrator Joseph Buffington brought the ordinance to the county supervisors on Tuesday.

'This ordinance allows the county to have the option to deal with the nuisances of dilapidated properties or tall grass,” Buffington said. 'It's permissive in that the county would hold the right to decide if they wanted to take care of the issue or not.

'We can take care of the nuisance, but we don't have to. If there's a situation where the county decides to not pursue the nuisance, the neighbor who brought the complaint can still take initiative and file an action.”

The request for this nuisance ordinance came from multiple neighbor complaints about tall grass in unincorporated areas of Henry County.

'One of conditions we added to deal with the tall grass issue is that property owners in the unincorporated areas are required to mow within 100 feet of property structures on that land,” Buffington said. 'If you have a 10-acre parcel, we're not going to make you mow all 10 acres, just the land within 100 feet of the structures.”

Buffington believes that this ordinance will help the county in regards to abandoned properties, too.

'If you keep the yards mowed, it doesn't make the abandoned properties so obvious to kids who might want to vandalize it or those who might want to inhabit it,” he said.

'I think it improves the general appearance, too,” Supervisor Chad White said.

The ordinance to abate the nuisance of dilapidated buildings and tall grass in the unincorporated areas of Henry County will go to a second reading before it is adopted.