Trouble on Wegman Court

Complying with a vacant lot ordinance puts a neighborhood in turmoil

Facing stiff fines for failing to fence in a vacant lot, a property owner on Wegman Court may have inadvertently caused a traffic nightmare and a safety hazard.
Residents who appeared before the Oct. 14 City Council meeting said that compliance with a relatively new vacant lot law has made it impossible for cars to turn around, emergency vehicles to enter, and even for ambulances to reach patients at the end of the street.
Yolanda Dean, a resident of Wegman Court, said the new fence, which appears to have been installed at the mouth of a former driveway, makes it impossible for people to make U-turns.
“The fence is a fire hazard, too,” Deane said. “The only fire hydrant there isn’t working, and if there is a brush fire behind the fence there is no way for anyone to put it out.”
The fence, some residents said, encroached on the street so that there is no room for more than one car to move along it, something that becomes a problem during morning or evening rush hours.
“City officials have come down and said they will remove the fence,” Deane said. “But nothing has been done so far.”
Council President Rolando Lavarro said the property owner had come to him several weeks earlier saying he had received tickets from the city for failing to put up a fence as required by the law.

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“I lost one kid to a car accident, I’m not willing to lose another.” – Sylvia Minor
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“There is an ordinance that vacant lots have to be enclosed by a fence,” Lavarro said. “He erected the fence to deal with the violations.” Lavarro agreed that this has resulted in “a real mess.”
“Once a car gets in there, it can’t get out,” he said. “We have the Residence Response Center working with the Law Department to resolve it. We haven’t removed the fence because it is on private property.
“The fence appears to be in the middle of the street because it crosses over at a point where there used to be access to former garages. The law department will be sending the engineering department to survey the property to determine if the fence is actually located on private property.”
If there is a public hazard such as possible danger as result of fire, the city has the ability to use eminent domain take that portion of the property, a last resort option, Lavarro said, but one that is available to the city.
The street is located in Ward F just off Garfield Avenue.

City might be liable?

Diane Coleman, council person for Ward F, said she is concerned about liability to the city. While the fire department can take down the fence in the case of an emergency, she is more concerned about the inability of medical transports to access houses on the street.
“What if a person who needs treatment can’t get out and dies?” she asked.
Caren Cody, who has lived on Wakeman for almost 40 years, said she is concerned about her 84 year-old mother who lives on that street.
“We’re taxpayers; we’re hard working people,” she said. “It only takes one or two cars and we’re done. Why do we need to wait for something critical to happen? Why can’t the city just buy the land and make it a public right of way?”
Jason Dabney, another resident, said he needs public medical transport.
“I can barely walk, but the ambulance won’t come down our street,” he said. “He tells me to meet him at the corner. I had to call an ambulance once and they asked me to come to the corner. I could not move. They wheeled [a stretcher] to the house and then wheeled it all the way back to Garfield. Even the street sweeper backs out. When an ambulance does come, it backs out.
Sylvia Minor said young drivers back out onto the heavily-traversed Garfield Avenue.
“I lost one kid to a car accident, I’m not willing to lose another,” she said. “Our vans have dents because people try turning around in our driveway. What will happen when it snows? Where is the snow going to go?”

Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.

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