MEMORANDUM
TO: City Council
FROM : David J. Deutsch, City Manager
SUBJECT: Code Compliance Overview
DATE: March 20, 2008
The mission of the City’s Code Compliance program is to maintain the health and safety of City residents through the effective application of property maintenance regulations. The long-term sustainability of the quality of life in City neighborhoods can be tied to the neighborhood preservation impact of the Code Compliance program. These efforts cover the licensing and inspection of residential rental properties in the City, enforcement of exterior property maintenance standards for residential and commercial properties, enforcement of the noise ordinance, building permit and commercial sign permit issuance and our parking enforcement program.
The Code Compliance Division makes every attempt to gain compliance from the community first through the issuance of warnings and later, if necessary, through the issuance of Municipal Infractions with ensuing fines and lastly through the Court System. Code Compliance Officers are professional members of our Community Services team who enforce City Code fairly and consistently.
STAFFING
As of February 2008, the Code Compliance and Animal Control Divisions of Community Services have a new supervisor. This new position was approved by Council in the FY08 Budget. The position was filled by a current member of our staff, Mr. Stephen Roberts. Steve has been a Code Officer with the City of Bowie for the past 10 years. Prior to joining the City staff, he was an officer with the Prince George’s County Police Department for 24 years. Mr. Roberts is a field supervisor whose duties include administrative functions as well as taking on some of the toughest Code cases. He will also be responsible for training new officers. In that regard we have just recently established a Code Officer Trainee position and expect to bring future officers in at this level and train them ourselves.
In addition to the Supervisor, there are currently five full-time and two part-time officers who provide coverage seven days a week during both daytime and evening hours. The day officer schedule is 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The evening/weekend officers work 5 hour shifts from 5-10 p.m. Monday through Friday and 7 a.m. – noon and 1-6 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Officers are available to work outside of these established hours for special projects and assignments. The officers canvass neighborhoods on a daily basis. All officers respond to calls from the public, patrol the community, remove illegal signs and educate residents on local ordinances and permit related matters.
Four of the full-time officers are responsible for the enforcement of City Codes for residential properties and to ticket and/or impound vehicles on City streets as needed. Staff reviews all of the Code areas on a regular basis and makes adjustments and re-assignments as warranted to address the growth in the community and the age of properties to assure a balanced workload.
OPEN
Belair Greens, Bowie Station, Chapel Forge, Huntington, Huntington Crest,
Northridge, Old Chapel Estates, Overbrook, Rockledge, Rolling Hills, Saddlebrook,
Victoria Heights, Whitehall and Yorktown
Fred Kilgore
Belair Town (Race Track Rd.), Bowie Forest, Buckingham, Derbyshire,
Forest Hills, Longridge, Meadowbrook, Old Chapel, Somerset, Fairview, Gradys
Walk, Highbridge Park, Old Stage, Princeton Square, Stewarts Landing, Tulip
Grove, Westview
David Findlater
Kenilworth, Foxhill, Heather Hills, Covington Manor, Enfield
Chase, Ensleigh at Bowie, Essington, Evergreen Estates, Longleaf, Northview,
Oak Pond, Palisades, Vistas
Jamie Braun
Amber Meadows, Ashleigh, Belair Town (Millstream), Collington
Manor, Collington Station, Devonshire Estates, Glen Allen, Grovehurst, Lake
Village Manor, Mitchellville, Oak Creek, Oaktree, Pointer Ridge, Tall Oaks,
Ternberry, the Hamptons at Woodmore, Woodmore Estates, Woodmore Highlands
The fifth full-time officer is responsible for conducting rental-housing inspections, code enforcement at commercial properties, and monitoring building and commercial sign permit activity. The following is a list of the commercial and rental areas in the City:
Dennis Murphy
Commercial: Whitehall Shopping Center, Bowie Plaza, West Bowie
Village, Historic Old Town, Hilltop Plaza, Marketplace, Gallant Fox, Free State
Shopping Center, Superior Lane, Collington Plaza,
Gateway, Bowie Town Center, Pointer Ridge Shopping Center, North Oak Professional
Center, Melford, Mt. Oak Plaza, Home Depot, Zug Road, BJ’s, Bowie Crossing,
Whitehall Professional Buildings
Rental: 1,595 Apartments including Archstone at Governors Green, Bowie Commons, Evergreen Senior Community, Heather Ridge, The Willows, Pin Oak Village, Meridian. Also includes 780+ single family units
The part-time officers issue warnings and municipal infractions or tickets throughout the City for illegal parking of commercial vehicles in residential areas, parking on unpaved areas of residential lots, trash placed at the curb prior to the evening before pickup and occasional noise complaints (Most noise complaints are now handled by the Police Department.). They also work with our Public Works Department and issue reports regarding street light outages, utility boxes and poles, and signs that are in disrepair. Between them, they work a total of approximately 45 hours per week. Our weekday Officer’s schedule includes a Foot Patrol component during the Spring, Summer and Fall months which increases their visibility in the community and provides a different visual perspective for the officers.
PROCESS
Violations of the City Code are acted upon based on a report to the Code Compliance offices by phone, letter or email or because of observation of a violation by an officer in the field. All reported violations are entered into the Code Compliance module of the MUNIS software system used by the City. All reported violations are verified in the field prior to any further action being taken. Once observed and/or verified all violations generate a notice to the property owner. Staff finds that frequently the alleged violation reported is not a violation of the City Code. Examples of such calls may include:
It is crucial to understand that the codes are based on a minimum standard to protect the health, safety and welfare of the community as set forth in the Maryland Building Performance Standards and the Prince George’s County Code. Not all complaints received violate these minimum standards. The City Code meets these minimum standards and in some cases may be stricter than the minimum standards.
Once a violation is observed and confirmed, a notice is mailed to the resident, or in the case of a public nuisance such as tall grass or the accumulation of trash, notices are posted on the front of the property. For rental properties, warning notices are sent to the property owner, as well as the tenant, as the owner is legally responsible for compliance with City Codes at the premise address. The notice lists the Code section(s) in which the condition is described, with a time frame specified for compliance. Time given to resolve a problem can be “immediate” or as much as 30 days. Residents are always encouraged to contact our offices if there is a circumstance beyond their control or a reason that an extension is needed in order to comply. Reasonable extensions of time may be offered in order to address the problem.
Our program has historically generated a high degree of compliance in response to violation notices prior to the issuance of fines. Those who do not comply are issued fines for violations that remain outstanding. The number of infractions varies yearly, but usually remains within certain ranges.
MUNICIPAL INFRACTIONS
When a City Code is determined to have been violated, the Code Officer will commence a prescribed course of action to bring the property into compliance. Before issuing a Municipal Infraction the officer would normally send a letter notifying the resident of the violation and giving a deadline for compliance. This letter would also invite the resident to contact the officer if there are mitigating circumstances. The majority of problems are corrected at this point. The following is a timeline that shows the process followed in our more difficult cases and illustrates why it sometimes takes a painfully long period of time to rectify a problem when the property owner is not cooperative:
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A concern which is being brought to Council’s attention in this overview regards the topic of trailers in the City. In 2007 a Municipal Infraction was issued to a resident who had a trailer parked at their home. The resident informed the Code Officer that this trailer should be considered a recreational vehicle. In most areas of the City a recreational vehicle can be parked on a residential property. This trailer, however, did not meet the definition of a recreational vehicle. Council held a work session at which a number of residents spoke in support of changing the City Code to allow residents to park trailers which were to be used for recreational pursuits on residential property. At that time Council asked that the City Code be changed to allow trailers that were used for recreational purposes, such as transporting motorcycles as was the case in this situation, to be parked on residential property within the City. After careful review, it has been determined that the City Code cannot be changed to allow this to take place. (See memo from the City Attorney, Attachment E) With Council concurrence staff will begin notifying all residents who currently have a trailer parked on their property in violation of the City Code to relocate the vehicle. This can be accomplished by moving the trailer inside their garage or to a location outside of the City. We will of course provide adequate time for the resident to comply.
PARKING TICKETS
The Code Compliance Officers and our Park Rangers issue parking tickets. These are in addition to those issued by the Police Department. They are issued for violations on public property (City streets or parks), as opposed to private residential property which would receive a Municipal Infraction. Parking warnings are written for the parking of vehicles on the street when they are inoperative or abandoned, for parking on the grass or in violation of City signs.
Within 30 days of receipt of a ticket, the recipient can request a hearing before the District Court. This hearing date is normally set within two months of the request. If the fine is not paid within the allotted time, the tag number is forwarded to MVA and the registration is flagged. MVA will not renew the tag until the fine is paid to the City. Unlike municipal infractions, there is no City based appeal process for parking tickets.
EQUIPMENT AND TRAINING
All Code Compliance Officers have Nextel phones and vehicle mounted computers. This provides them with immediate access to City and County records, resident calls/complaints and police assistance if necessary.
Our Code Officers are easily identified in the community by their blue shirts, black jackets and hats that display the City of Bowie seal and the words Code Compliance.
All Code Compliance related information is entered into the MUNIS software system and can be easily retrieved to answer questions and provide follow-up.
The City’s rental housing license and inspection program is tracked through an internally developed Microsoft Access based application. The Rental Inspection Code Officer has a portable printer in the field that allows him to provide an owner or tenant with an immediate compliance letter based on the results of his inspection. This system also tracks the issuance of municipal infractions and their court dates.
Just last week the City began implementation of a MUNIS parking ticket component which will allow the Finance Department to handle all fines resulting from the issuance of parking tickets.
Building Permits are also tracked in a Microsoft Access based system. On a monthly basis, a report is issued on all permits issued by type and the fees collected.
Staff is involved with training activities through the Code Enforcement and Zoning Officials Association (CEZOA), the Maryland Municipal League, the International Code Council (ICC), and the American Association of Code Enforcement.
COMMERCIAL ENFORCEMENT
The City of Bowie Code Compliance Division currently performs a number of commercial code enforcement activities. Specifically, we are enforcing the property standards found in Chapter 5-7 of the City Code which allows us to issue notices and municipal infractions for areas that include landscaping, sanitation, grading, noxious plant growth, insect and rodent harborage, open storage, and accessory structures. This enforcement is performed on an exterior basis only and covers exterior walls, roofs, foundations, stairs, porches, railings, windows, exit doors, insect screens, gutters and address numbers. Our Commercial Code Compliance Officer routinely visits all commercial areas to assure compliance.
The City also requires building permits for new construction or interior renovations on all commercial properties.
Additionally we perform commercial sign enforcement. Signs are not permitted in any public right-of-way (ROW). This is true on City, County and State property. The one exception to this is directional real estate signs which are permitted to be placed in the ROW on the weekends. This is authorized specifically in the Prince George’s County Sign Ordinance, (Attachment A). Since the City has adopted the County sign ordinance, we also permit directional real estate signs to be placed in the City ROW on weekends.
When covenant issues arise, for example the use of parking areas for sale/storage of plants and merchandise trailers at Wal-Mart and Home Depot, our Code Compliance office works with the Department of Planning and Economic Development and our City Attorney to correct violations.
SUMMARY/COMMENTS
Appropriate and effective code compliance is vital to the long-term health of the City’s neighborhoods. The Council has established a comprehensive code compliance/housing inspection program, and a significant budget allocation ($470,700) for Fiscal Year 2008 has been made. Monthly and annual reports are distributed that reflect the various activities in this area. It will remain the primary objective of the Code Compliance Division to continue to work with residents toward compliance with City Codes for the preservation of neighborhoods and properties. To this end, we publish a Code Compliance brochure (Attachment B) and provide regular articles to the City Spotlight newsletter (Attachment C). The brochure as well as samples of articles is attached for your review. For those cases where compliance is unmet, staff will continue to use the court system to attain resolution of these matters.
Attachments
Attachment A - Sign Information
Attachment B - Code Compliance Brochure
Attachment C - Bowie Spotlight Articles
Attachment D - House Bill 921 "State Highway Administration - Unauthorized
Signs on Rights-of-Way
Attachment E - Parking of Trailers in the City