Proposed Cortlandville law could update property codes

Cortlandville. (Photo Source: Kevin L. Smith of The Cortland Voice).

A newly proposed local law regarding property codes could put the town of Cortlandville in a select group of New York municipalities.

Cortlandville attorney John DelVecchio said at the town board meeting Wednesday he will draft a local law to bring to the board in an upcoming meeting to handle updates to the Property Maintenance Code of New York State as they affect Cortlandville.

“I was hoping that our code had some sort of general provision in it that basically serves as a mechanism that incorporates any time the New York State Legislature amends the building or fire code into our local code,” he said. “We don’t have such a provision, most municipalities don't have such a provision.”

There are some new regulations regarding part 1,203 of Title 19 that every municipality in New York had to adopt by Dec. 30 this year. Per New York State, here is the full text of the updates.

The town voted unanimously to adopt them Wednesday.

“I think that Cortlandville should serve as an example for municipalities,” DelVecchio said. “I'm going to draft a local law that will serve as a mechanism to incorporate the new changes and potentially serve as a mechanism moving forward to incorporate further changes that New York state proposes. As you all know, they love to change things.” 

Instead of having the board approve individual resolutions for local code changes to match the state’s general code, DelVecchio’s law would automatically incorporate the state’s changes into the town’s code.

The town attorney said he will bring a draft of the law to board members next week.