Fairfax County supervisors are considering jail time for some of the county’s worst zoning violations, possibly giving new teeth to a campaign to crack down on overcrowded boarding houses.
The Board of Supervisors is proposing to turn what would normally be a civil penalty into a criminal one, if the civil fines for the violation are worth at least $5,000. If passed after a public hearing in September, the measure would mean landlords who cram residents into unsafe dwellings would face much more than a set of fines sometimes regarded as “the cost of doing business.”
“It’s going to be at the discretion of the individual judge who’s hearing the case and the evidence that’s before him,” said Lee District Supervisor Jeff McKay. “But I certainly think it’s a good thing to give the judge more latitude to put people in jail if he finds that’s the most appropriate punishment.”
The General Assembly granted local governments the authority to impose the tougher penalties this year.
The move is part of a larger initiative to rid neighborhoods of blighted, overcrowded structures that began in June 2007 with the creation of two “strike teams” of county staff. Since then, the county has funded a third team to handle the demand for the crackdown. Last month, Fairfax County won $23,900 in criminal and civil penalties, the largest in county history, against a landlord who illegally set up five basement bedrooms in a Springfield house.
Fairfax County officials, under fire for lack of action on illegal immigration, last year pointed to the existence and success of the strike teams as evidence that they are doing something about the problem, though by targeting “illegal behavior” and not simply legal status.
Prosecuting the zoning violations as a criminal misdemeanor would mean the county couldn’t impose the civil fines. The measure also would reduce the appeal period for a overcrowding and some parking violations from 30 days to 10 days.
