Yale City Council takes legal steps in blight case

YALE — Following a closed session that lasted an hour, members of the Yale City Council have taken action against a persistent blight issue at a home on the corner of Morrell and Clarence streets. 

Mayor Brenda Krzak called the meeting to order at 7 p.m. and, within minutes, audience members were asked to leave to allow council members, their attorney and police department administration to discuss legal information regarding the blighted property.

The property, 222 Morrell St., has been one of the main blight addresses on the police department’s list all year.

The Morrell Street house has been in poor condition for many months and has had unsafe conditions including an open structure with no roof, building materials laying on the lawn and piles of trash in the front yard of the home. 

“It’s the worst house in the whole city — it’s not even a house anymore,” Council member Sharon Krosnicki said at an earlier meeting in August.

According to city officials, blight varies widely in practice; however, some properties in town have garnered extra attention and discussion among council members for their prolonged periods of noncompliance and homeowners dodging enforcement officers’ visits. Some residents have pushed back personally, what they feel are privacy rights and cultural norms. 

For one property on Morrell Street with trash piled on the yard, a pile of wood, and a roofless house, the city was ready to impose fines if the trash was not cleaned up.

Removing the building materials on site proved more complicated, as a building inspector must review the site and consider pulling permits to initiate construction work. 

At last week’s meeting, following their closed session, council members returned and passed a motion to continue to take the next step legally, seeking an administrative warrant, which, if granted, will allow police and a building inspector to enter the property and assess the property and structure.

Yale’s city code defines blight to include abandoned automobiles, miscellaneous junk items in the yard or perpetual yard sales, building materials on a property without a building permit, structural disrepair that has existed for at least 60 days, and weeds or grass exceeding 6 inches. Yale’s code also prohibits parking vehicles in front or side yards for more than 72 hours, and requires unlicensed vehicles to be registered within 60 days.

Vehicles that are inoperative for more than 48 hours are prohibited, unless they are contained in an enclosed shelter. Parked vehicles can be on the street right-of-way or adjacent to a driveway as long as it’s within 10 feet of the traveled portion of the roadway. Violators have 72 hours to remove violating vehicles upon notice, or are subject to impoundment and the costs.

For all other violations, city officials need only notify offenders in writing, regardless of it being a civil infraction notice or not, to trigger a five-day timeline to remedy the cause of blight. 

Additional time to remove the causes of blight may be granted if progress is being made, but the city may step in and charge costs to remove it. It is unclear how prevalent Yale blight is in 2026 compared to past years, though some residents say the issue has never been worse than it is now.  

“The city council needs to be serious,” said Alica Rawlins, a Yale resident who lives directly across from the Morrell Street property. “Several years ago it was a big deal — all the blight in our town. And they still haven’t done anything.” 

The blight enforcement officer may, by law, inspect premises that appear to be in violation of the ordinance. Fourth Amendment rights, however, constrain some enforcement actions, authorities say. 

If the vehicle is tucked against a wall or structure in a way that prohibits line of sight, the officer’s options are limited. Enforcement measures beyond that, such as utilizing ladders, drones, or anything done to “advantage” the officer’s position technically transgresses constitutional rights. The officer can pursue an administrative search warrant, which must clear legal steps, like contacting the city attorney for advice in pursuing action.

In the past 18 months, Assistant Chief Brian Dowell says the department has had 22 abandoned autos removed from properties, handled eight “blighted residences” including one that had over 20 tires on the property, and addressed 28 noxious grass and weed complaints. 

“I’ve had people tell me their property isn’t blight, and I tried to explain to them, ‘Yeah, that’s a lot of stuff there. It’s blight. It’s garbage. It needs to be removed,’” Dowel said. 

The PD employs one blight-enforcement officer, who receives complaints from the public and surveys for blighted properties and possible action.