A group of Orono officials and residents are finalizing their plans to answer residents’ demands for changes following an assault in the town earlier this year.
The Good Neighbor Committee is working to modify ordinances that would change how disorderly activity would be defined and enforced. That includes proposing fines that would range from $300 to $600 depending on the circumstances, with the ability for the amount to be doubled for certain violations.
The committee, created earlier this year, wants to change the ordinances to crack down on large, loud parties that residents say have been linked to assaults across town. The committee was created after residents asked for changes following an April assault.
The committee first met on June 2 and is made up of three town councilors, seven citizens, one University of Maine student and one University of Maine official. Town officials and the police chief are also involved.
The committee has been working on amending Orono’s ordinance for disorderly property enforcement to bring it to the Town Council on July 14.
The draft of the ordinance adds blocking or obstructing town roads, excessive noise as deemed unacceptable by an officer at the property line and serving alcohol to minors to the disorderly activity definition.
Other changes focus on rental housing. Wording to notify owners of issues caused by tenants and changes in fines for both occupants and property owners were added for accountability from both parties, committee members said.
Changes are meant to be enforced equally to all Orono residents, but with the assaults coming from college-aged adults, the ordinance is being changed with college students in mind.
“It’s obvious why we are here, if we’re honest with ourselves, we’re here because of the college students,” committee member Dennis Cross said.
A Webster neighborhood resident was assaulted in April after he told four people they were trespassing on his property. After the group didn’t leave, the man pulled out his phone to record them and the four people then assaulted him, the man’s husband said at an Orono Town Council meeting that month.
The man was pulled to the ground, and the group punched, kicked and attempted to strangle him. The four people, all aged between 19 and 21, were yelling homophobic slurs at the man while assaulting him, the man’s husband said.
This was not the first assault in recent years, multiple residents said at the meeting.
The four people who were issued summonses following the assault came from a party on N. Main Avenue that had more than the allowed number of guests, Town Manager Clint Deschene said. The tenants had received multiple complaints before the assault took place, Deschene said.
Parties like this are harbingers for these assaults, Council Chair Dan Demerritt said.
The University of Maine does not track how many students live off campus, but 3,199 of the 11,101 students live in on-campus housing.
The largest proposed change comes to fines.
The current ordinance has fines starting at $200 with increases up to $1,000 depending on how many units are in the building.
The changes being discussed in the committee meetings up the fines to $300 for tenants or occupants and a notice sent to the property owner for disorderly activity involving less than 20 people. The fines for disorderly activity with 20 or more people is being proposed at $600 for tenants and property owners.
All fines are doubled if the activity happens between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m., according to the changes. Fines are also doubled if there is a second violation.
The system is complaint-based, meaning an officer cannot issue a fine without probable cause or a complaint placed on a property.
The changes will be finished by the committee’s July 14 meeting and will be presented to the Town Council that day.
