By Jeff Francis
jefff@milehighnews.com
The house, the yard and the detached garage scream “eyesore.” Trash, toys, mechanical parts, sporting goods and whatever else the male owner hordes clutter the northwest Lakewood property. The owner, who years ago suffered a head injury, sets up stuffed animals around the yard and purchase sandwiches from 7-Eleven to hang from his trees, according to sources within the city.
Likely a commentary on his ongoing legal problems with the city, a message not suitable to print in a family newspaper is spray-painted over his garage.
The home is one of the troublemakers for Lakewood code enforcement officers. While such extreme cases are rare, code enforcement officers throughout the county spend their days in myriad capacities: as a tool in neighborhood feuds, as guardians of the aesthetic values of a community, and as diplomats between their cities and residents, many of whom are often unaware of just what is and isn’t a code violation.
How it works
A code usually emanates from a common community complaint that eventually ends up before the city council. Once the rule becomes an ordinance, it’s up to the code enforcement officers to monitor homes and businesses for compliance. A notice — similar to a warning — is usually issued before an actual violation. If a resident refuses to correct the problem, a city-financed contractor will rectify the problem, with a bill being sent to the resident. If the property owner does not pay, a lien is implemented against the property.
It rarely goes that far.
“We’ll give notices for lack of compliance, and we may hand out a citation, given the circumstances,” said Michelle Evans, an officer with Golden code enforcement. “We get compliance 95 to 98 percent of the time.”
Code enforcement officers in the Jefferson County municipalities are trained to be diplomatic in their enforcement techniques, a virtual requirement given the stringent nature of some of the
“We’re given a little leeway on when and what we can ticket,” said Connie Roberts, an Arvada code enforcement officer. “It’s necessary with some of the situations we come across.”
Neighbors
On Thursday, July 27, Lakewood Code Enforcement Officer Lois Engbretson — who won the 2005 code enforcement officer of the year award by the Colorado Association of Code Enforcement Officials — tried to settle a dispute between a car dealership owner and his neighbor, a motel owner.
The motel owner was digging a trench for a new water line beside his motel, the White Swan. Although the trench was safely on his property, large dirt piles were accumulating on the lot of Johnson Brothers cars next door.
“It’s been exposed like this for a couple of months,” said owner Norm Johnson, who had parked large trucks in an attempt to hide the dirt. “This is bad for our business. He’s going to have to do something.”
Johnson also said he regularly gets visited by homeless men hired by the motel owner to dig the trench.
“He takes these poor bastards off the streets and hires them to dig,” he said. “Then he doesn’t pay them, and they come whining to me about it.”
The motel owner, P.C. Patel, explains that business at his motel is slow, and although he has a permit for the labor, it is taking him a bit longer than he planned.
“You need to put some fencing up, not just caution tape,” said Engbretson. “You need to get that cordoned off.”
Although Engbretson is dealing with businesses, she and other code enforcement officers stressed that they are often tools in neighborhood conflicts.
“A lot of residents are upset that their neighbors don’t talk to them,” said Gail Spencer, administrative manager of Lakewood community planning and development. “People are angry that we’re contacting them and others are angry that we can’t do more.”
Because of the volume of complaints from neighbors, code enforcement departments are often reactive, not proactive.
Officers also deal with the various violations that get by most folks, such as the requirements to obtain a permit for replacing fences, remodeling kitchens and installing sprinkler systems. On the opposite end are the most common violations, which can be seasonal, i.e., weed complaints aplenty in the summer, followed by sign complaints — they can’t be on public property or in a right-of-way — in the fall. Inoperable vehicle complaints are a year-round constant.
How bad does it get?
Roberts and Engbretson have both dealt with angry homeowners who threatened to shoot them. They regard it as an occupational hazard in a job where things can often be perceived as personal.
The most extreme situation the code enforcement officers encounter are the phenomenon of “pit houses,” homes so cluttered with garbage and other items that workers in full biohazard gear must clean it out. Often occupied by troubled residents estranged from their families, the clutter can also include feces and dead animals. Last year Lakewood dealt with two pit houses.
“It’s becoming more of an issue here and in the nation,” said Becky Clark, Lakewood director of community planning and development. “There’s nowhere to sit, walk, do anything. There’s an eight-foot ceiling and they have to crawl over 7 feet of trash to get to the front door. It’s usually due to mental illness.”
Clark and others stress that pit houses are an anomaly in code enforcement. What they want to stress more is the need for neighbors to be neighborly and, if possible, work things out on their own.
“We’re just trying to protect property rights,” she said. “We would like for the citizens to work together before the government gets involved. That would require taxpayer dollars. It should be a last resort.”
Did you know?
The obscure, confusing and sometimes very relevant city codes in Jefferson County:
Wheat Ridge, Sec. 15-21c of municipal code
Stale Matter: It shall be unlawful and deemed a nuisance to keep, collect, or use or cause to be kept, collected, or used, or permit to be kept or used, any stale, putrid, or stinking fat or grease or other matter.
Golden, 11.08.140 Street cleaning
It shall be unlawful for any owner or occupant of any lot, property or parcel of land, or his/her agent, to fail to remove from any sidewalk adjacent to such property any accumulation of mud, ice and any other obstruction, and any accumulation of more than one (1) inch of snow, no later than twenty-four (24) hours after cessation of snowfall.
Arvada, sec. 17-27. Article I, Section 1203.2. Parking and displaying vehicle for sale upon private property.
(A) No person shall park a vehicle upon private property belonging to another for the principal purpose of displaying such vehicle for sale. (b) It shall be unlawful for the owner of any property located within the city to allow vehicles owned by others to be parked on such property for the principal purpose of being offered for sale.
Lakewood, 12.19.020 Revocable license agreement (minor right-of-way encroachments).
A. No person shall construct any improvement, such as fences or mailbox pillars, or place any object, such as commercial type trash dumpsters in the public right of way without first obtaining a revocable license agreement approved by the director of finance. B. This ordinance shall not apply to trash receptacles that are placed adjacent to the traveled lanes for removal on the scheduled date of pick-up.