Disorderly conduct ordinance revised

By Susan Bromley
Staff Writer

Brandon Twp.? A public hearing on a new disorderly conduct ordinance will be scheduled after the first of the year, say township officials.
Tim Palulian, director of the planning and building department presented the first draft during the township meeting on Monday night.
Township officials say the changes to the ordinance come after two years of study regarding the disorderly conduct ordinance. The new measures focus on the noise section, expanding the previous ordinance from about one paragraph on excessive noise to nearly two pages.
Palulian said the changes are needed to allow enforcing agents to determine what qualifies as a nuisance. Prior to the change, the township has been unable to address certain activities, such as the use of recreational vehicles on private property, with the current ordinance and the new language is more definitive.
In drafting the new ordinance, the township attorney used court precedents to determine what police and building department officials could legally enforce.
‘The detail that the ordinance provides to the enforcing agent is far and above what we have in existing language. It provides a greater number of definitions’that the enforcing agent can use on making a judgment in what is a nuisance or disorderly conduct,? said Palulian.
‘The new ordinance attempts to alleviate the problem of what is a nuisance and what is not. It is a much more effective tool than the existing statute in addressing particular nuisance complaints and working to resolve them.?