Lead Paint

Photo courtesy Jo Naylor 
Photo courtesy Jo Naylor 
Photo courtesy Jo Naylor 

The New Haven, Conn., City Plan Commission voted to affirm the importance of the city's lead laws after several months of controversy in the area, the New Haven Independent reports. In recent months, the city of New Haven admitted to lowering its lead-based paint laws to save money in some instances and a group of 300 lead-poisoned children were given clearance to sue the city.

“The commission finds it in the best interest of the city for the Board of Alders to reexamine the New Haven lead paint ordinance,” Westville Alder and City Plan Commissioner Adam Marchand read into the record Wednesday night as he framed the motion.

City health officials have argued that the law, which was crafted independent of any input from a mayorallly appointed Lead Paint Advisory Committee, clarifies the definition of an actionable blood lead level as matching the current federal reference level, boosts the number of city lead inspectors, penalizes landlords who do not abate properties of lead hazards in a timely way.

Legal aid attorneys, who have filed a class action lawsuit against the city for failing to enforce local legal requirements for lead hazard inspections and abatements, have criticized the proposed law for gutting existing mandates and giving too much discretion to the local health director as to when to conduct a complete lead hazard inspection.

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