PEA RIDGE — With the appointment of Aaron Clark, a street employee, as the city’s code enforcement officer, several area residents have received letters advising them they’re in violation of city code dealing with property maintenance.
City Ordinance 141 has been in force for years, but the increased demands on the city’s building official with the rapid growth in town has put enforcement of the ordinance on the back burner.
“We’ve done about five big ones and several small ones,” said Nathan See, Street Department superintendent, recalling clean-ups prompted by the city over the past 18 years.
See said almost all letters about violation are prompted by complaints about a property. He said many residents are unaware of the city’s code, which can be found online on the city’s website.
“We appointed a code enforcement officer to relieve some duties from the city’s building inspector who was so overwhelmed with all the houses coming in… so we could stay on top of it to keep the city looking nice and aesthetically pleasing,” See said.
The first step after receiving a complaint is to look at the property to assess whether the complaint is warranted. Then, the code enforcement officer writes a letter advising the property owner of the violation. The letter is sent by certified mail, and See said once the letter has been accepted, the property owner, or tenant, has seven days to remedy the violation.
At the end of the seven days, the code enforcement officer may visit the property and remind the property owner the city can legally clean the property and charge the property owner for the man hours and equipment costs to clean the property.
See said there are no fines associated with the letter.
Conditions which the city has addressed include extremely tall grass, trash on the property, junk in the front yard, inoperable vehicles in the front yard, trailers parked on the street for more than 24 hours. He said in one situation, city employees found a broken sewer line beneath the tall vegetation and garbage.
“There are not very many times we will do anything without a complaint,” See said, explaining city employees don’t have the time to just search for violations. He said some conditions are unhealthy such as a couple of situations where the property owner had tires or ponds holding water and creating breeding ground for mosquitoes.
“The most important part is, we’re try to keep Pea Ridge aesthetically pleasing,” See said. “We are trying to get our city to look good, to make and be proud of what we have.
“We want to be proud of what we have and take responsibility to keep our property clean and neat and be neighborly,” he said.
Annette Beard may be reached by email at abeard@nwadg.com .