Enforcement Process

The Community Preservation Division was established to educate property owners regarding City requirements to maintain their properties. Our enforcement process begins with an inspection to determine whether there is a violation of the City's Municipal Code or Zoning Code. Should a violation exist, a Courtesy Notice is posted at the property. The Courtesy Notice states the Municipal Code or Zoning Code violation as well as instructions on how to achieve compliance. Each Courtesy Notice will list the name, telephone number, and email address of the Community Preservation Officer who issued the notice, along with the required corrective method. The violation must be corrected within a period of ten days.

Re-inspection

The property will be re-inspected after ten days. If the violation still exists, a Notice of Violation will be issued to the property owner. The notice will: restate the violation; provide the corrective method to achieve compliance; and reestablish a ten day compliance period.

Continued Violation

Should the violation continue, an Administrative Citation will be issued to the property owner. The fine for the first Administrative Citation is $150 per violation. Property owners are provided another ten days to comply. Should the violation continue, a second Administrative Citation in the amount of $300 per violation is issued, and the ten-day compliance period is reestablished. Should the violation continue, Administrative Citations for $600 per violation will continue to be issued.

Inaction & Appeals

If no action is taken by the property owner, the City will obtain a Judicial Warrant to Abate. The warrant is a legal tool that enables the City to abate the violation. Once a Warrant to Abate is received, the property owner is responsible for all costs of abatement. Unpaid abatement costs along with unpaid Administrative Citation fees will be recovered by the City through a lien on the property as detailed in Section 1-12 Citation-Violations of the Municipal Code. The Community Preservation Ordinance details the enforcement process. Appeals are handled by the City Clerk's Office (email the Clerk's Office) and additional information is available in the Appeal Application (PDF).