By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- The village code may soon be amended to include a definition for blighted properties and give the code office a means to take action against the property owners.

The system would be based on the code in Huntington, N.Y., which assigns varying point values to different code violations and when a property gets to 100 points, it is considered blighted.

“I think it’s a great idea,” Massena Fire Department Foreman Ken McGowan said. “If you’ve got a bunch of guys looking at the property, they can see the same thing.”

Currier said he didn’t want to publicize the proposed ordinance until the trustees were comfortable with a draft resolution, and referred a reporter to Huntington’s code.

“We’re pretty much mirroring them, with some changes and some tweaks,” Currier said.

The Huntington code gives an owner 30 days to get in compliance or else they will be charged annually $2,500 for a residential building and $5,000 for a commercial structure to be on a blighted property registry. The owner can enter into a restoration agreement with the town to be removed from the list.

Currier said the proposition would give code officials similar legal roadways and allow the village to work with property owners who want to improve their lots.

“We can waive fees, work with the property owner,” he said. “It’s not black and white, ‘do this, don’t do that,’” he said.

Point value violations in the Huntington code range from as many as 50 points for being deemed a fire hazard or nuisance to as few as five points for peeling paint or broken gutters.

Currier said he thinks proposing the law is necessary because the existing local laws don’t mention blight anywhere.

“We don’t define blight in our ordinance,” he said.

Go to http://ecode360.com/15584663 to read Huntington’s code.