Fredericksburg amends blight code to include drug and sex houses, guns

The Fredericksburg City Council has amended the criminal blight rules to align with state legislation.

The previous city codes related to criminal blight were first adopted in 2012 and were known as "drug blight" provisions. Those provisions were used to designate a building or structure blighted due to unlawful activity such as sales or the use of drugs on an individual property.

Since then, the General Assembly has made many amendments to the criminal blight rule, numbered 15.2-907 in the state code.

The ordinances were designed as a tool to protect public health, safety, and welfare in the circumstances that they addressed and apply to all properties in the Fredericksburg area. However, according to the city's Public Information Officer, Sonja Cantu, this ordinance has never actually been used in the over 10 years it has been in place.

The revised ordinance has also been expanded to include using the property in the use of commercial sex acts and the use of a firearm in the course of a criminal action.

According to the ordinance, property owners have 30 days to take action to prevent the property from being designated a criminal blight. If Fredericksburg were to take such action, it would also include the expenses of that action to be charged to the property owner. Property owners could also ask for an additional 30 days to deal with the issues.

The amended ordinance was read at the Fredericksburg City Council meeting on August 9.