HomeMy WebLinkAbout6C 2015 Code Enforcement
4646 Dakota Street SE
Prior Lake, MN 55372
CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
MEETING DATE: APRIL 11, 2016
AGENDA #: 6C
PREPARED BY: DALE STEFANISKO, CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER
PRESENTED BY: DALE STEFANISKO
AGENDA ITEM: CONSIDER APPROVAL OF A REPORT ON THE 2015 CODE
ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITY
DISCUSSION: Introduction
The purpose of this report is to provide the City Council with information
regarding complaints, code violations, and code enforcement activity for the
year 2015.
History
In July of 2007, The City of Prior Lake hired its first full time Code
Enforcement Officer and has since implemented a proactive Code
Enforcement Program. The main goal of the program is to enhance the
health, safety and aesthetics of the city through voluntary compliance. We
continue to maximize the attractiveness of residential and commercial
properties by effectively enforcing the standards and requirements of the
City Code. This has been achieved by both a proactive and complaint driven
approach.
A resident can contact the Code Enforcement Officer with a question or
concern and a site visit will be made. If a violation is confirmed at the time
of inspection, the responsible party will be notified. They will be provided a
notice of the violation and given a deadline to make the correction. When
voluntary compliance is not achieved within a reasonable amount of time it
may become necessary to issue a misdemeanor citation to the responsible
party. A citation requires the responsible party to appear at Scott County
District Court. This typically results in a fine and confirmation that the
violation has been corrected.
City ordinance compliance can also be achieved through educating and
informing the public of the city ordinances. Examples of public outreach are
regular contributions in “The Wavelength” or water bill insert to inform
residents of various codes to include seasonal or weather related
ordinances and brochure hand out flyers for specific codes. The City digital
monument signs are used to display various types of code enforcement
information. The City’s website lists several common code type violations,
links to the Code Enforcement policy and the Good Neighbor Guide to Code
Compliance.
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Voluntary compliance is a desired goal of the Code Enforcement Program
and is being achieved in the vast majority of cases.
Since January, 2011 all Code enforcement related activity has been tracked
in the software program called “Splash”. Splash is an intranet based
program which can be accessed by all Prior Lake City Staff. The Code
Enforcement Officer documents the findings of the initial inspection and any
subsequent inspections up until the case is closed. This documentation
includes inspection findings, photos, notices, correspondence, and any
other updates or developments pertaining to a particular case. All the case
information is contained in one data base and is easily searchable.
Custom improvements to Splash were made January 1, 2013 creating a
custom Code Enforcement Services module. This module allows reporting
of case violations, tracking and viewing of the case status, notices issued,
violations, complaint source, and photos. Splash has been a good tool that
has improved administration of the Code Enforcement Program. Better
software programs are available to enhance administration capabilities.
These software platforms not only allow for administration of the Code
Enforcement Program, but allow for better reporting and automatic letter
generation. As the City grows and more and more cases are generated,
better software would allow for delay in hiring additional staff. (See agenda
item 9B)
Current Circumstances
This report consists of a year-end summary of the total number of violations
closed in 2015, new cases opened in 2015, source of the complaints, the
processes required to resolve the violations, the average time frame
required to resolve a complaint, the voluntary compliance percentage,
multiple violation percentages, a breakdown of the twelve most common
violation categories, and comparisons of prior year’s code violations.
This report is being furnished in order to provide the Council with insight that
may be useful in evaluating current resident concerns and future regulatory
decisions. It has been observed that the vast majority of City residents have
pride in their neighborhoods and the community. They feel an obligation to
maintain a neat appearance on their properties and expect nearby
properties do the same.
The City of Prior Lake has documented seven hundred six (706) new cases
opened in 2015. There were six hundred eighty-five (685) cases closed in
2015. The difference between new opened cases and cases closed in 2015
is because some cases remained open into 2016. The information on
violation totals is based on closed cases in the year 2015.
There were nine hundred nineteen (919) violations addressed in 2015 for
an increase of thirty eight percent (38%) when compared to the six hundred
sixty-four (664) violations in 2014.
Violations were as follows
Garbage & Refuse 197
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Tall Grass 104
Right Of Way 117
Vehicles Parked in the Yard 74
Junk Storage 77
Junk Vehicles 61
Public Nuisance 51
Permit Violations 89
Property Maintenance 111
Zoning Use 15
Signage 12
Animal Control 11
The attached Exhibit A displays the type of violations for the closed cases
for the current reporting period.
The attached Exhibit B displays a year to year comparison of complaints
from the past four years.
The attached Exhibit C displays the code enforcement violations compared
over the last ten years.
The attached Exhibit D displays the process used and time frame needed
to resolve the violations for this reporting period. The exhibit displays the
amount of cases where no action was required.
The attached Exhibit E displays the source of the complaints for this
reporting period.
The attached Exhibit F displays the amount of properties with multiply
violations.
The attached Exhibit G displays the locations of closed cases for this
reporting period.
Conclusion
Work continues on ways to refine our Code Enforcement Program to be sure
we are responsive and accountable to our customers in providing good code
enforcement services. Public awareness and public education outreach on
the city codes are a priority and made available to the community and city
staff. Please note voluntary compliance was achieved in over 99% of the
cases this reporting period. Once a person with a code violation was made
aware of code violations they resolved them in a timely manner. In fact over
74% of reported code violations were resolved within 14 days of the initial
inspection or when the person with the violation was first notified they had a
violation. Additionally, 90% of all cases were resolved within 30 days of the
initial inspection.
In 2016, we will continue to monitor the City ordinances and continue to
recommend changes as necessary. Any ordinance changes that significantly
affect the residents will be promoted by updates to the webpage, use of the
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digital monument signs, use of the Wavelength, and brochures created for
specific significant code changes. We will continue to utilize the City’s intranet
system (SPLASH) to report and track complaints unless new software is
purchased.
ISSUES: Six hundred eighty-five (685) complaint cases have been closed by either
meeting compliance or being deemed invalid. Some cases opened in
calendar year 2015 remain open. It is not uncommon for some cases to
remain open due to pending investigations, court proceedings and/or
continued improvements to a challenging property.
Challenging properties can be defined as properties that required a certified
mailing of a final notice or a citation being issued to resolve the violations at
the property. These types of cases amounted to less than 10% of the all the
cases but it is estimated it required more than 20% of code enforcement time
resources to resolve. Other added cost to challenging properties include the
certified mailings expenses, office resources, and attending court. Code
enforcement will continue to work on reducing the amount of time to resolve
all violations especially challenging properties. Proactively educating the
public and businesses about code enforcements services and City ordinances
will continue to be a priority over this next year.
Code activity has accounted for more grading permits being issued. This
reporting period there was a significate increase of cases against properties
performing excavating or grading activates with no permit. Code enforcement
will provide information to the public that permits are required when
undergoing certain grading or excavating projects. Enforcement actions on
these type of violations are time consuming. To off-set the additional costs, In
accordance with the City Fee Schedule, these properties are charged a double
fee for permits when enforcement actions are needed because work started
with no permit.
During this reporting period code enforcement worked on creating and
implementing the Council approved Short-Term Rental Ordinance. There
were (7) seven short-term rental permits issued for year 2015. For year 2016
it is projected there will an increase of short-term rental properties. The
challenge will be identifying and informing short-term rental properties a permit
is required.
Enforcement related to Emerald Ash Borer may generate future code
enforcement activity as trees on private property become hazardous.
In reviewing cases, Staff has found several City Ordinances pertaining to code
enforcement issues should be clarified or revised. Staff recommend that the
City Council direct staff to review the code sections listed below:
Section 315.502 (Off-Street Parking)
601.504 (Storage of Garbage and Refuse Containers)
601.600: (DISPOSAL OF GARBAGE AND REFUSE)
601.900: (AGRICULTURAL RURAL AREA EXCEPTIONS)
1102.700 (3) (RESIDENTIAL PERFORMANCE STANDARDS)
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RECOMMENDED
MOTION:
City Staff recommends Alternative #1 A motion and second to approve the
2015 year-end code enforcement report and direct staff to review City Code
Sections 315, 601 and 1102.
FINANCIAL
IMPACT:
Code enforcement cases continue to rise. At some point in the future it may
be necessary to hire a seasonal or part-time, or full-time personnel to assist in
administering the case load. The purchase of better code enforcement
software could delay the hiring of additional assistance.
ALTERNATIVES: The City Council has three alternatives:
1. Accept the code enforcement full year-end report and direct City Staff to
review City Code Sections 315, 601, and 1102.
2. Accept the code enforcement year-end report but deny the request to
initiate the review of the code sections.
3. Provide the staff with additional direction.
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EXHIBIT A
77 89
197
104
12
74
117
11
61
15
51
111
8%
10%
21%
11%
1%
8%
13%
1%
7%
2%
6%
12%
Percent of Total Violations & Number in Each Category 2015
# of Complaints % of Complaints
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EXHIBIT B
Year Totals 2013 - 802 2014 - 664 2015 - 919
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
88
44
152
119
14
90
106
12
57
25
53
42
68
33
68
123
10
52
112
15 31
15
65
7277
89
197
104
12
74
117
11
61
15
51
111
#
o
f
V
i
o
l
a
t
i
o
n
s
Violations Categories
Violation Comparison 2013-2015
2013 -802 2014 664 2015 - 919Yearly Totals
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EXHIBIT C
132
188
250 229 235
271
314
802
664
919
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Violations Comparison Last 10 Years
9
EXHIBIT D
98 413 109 62 3
14%
60%
16%
9%
1%
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
5 DAYS OR LESS
No Violation
No Action Required
98 CASES
14%
14 DAYS
One Notice
413 cases
60%
28 DAYS
Two Notices
109 cases
16%
60 DAYS
Third/Final Notice
62 cases
9%
Citation/Abatement
Closed Cases
3 cases
<1%
Pe
r
c
e
n
t
a
g
e
Type of Notice & Length of Process to Resolve Violation/s
PROCESS FOR CLOSED 2015 CASES
QUANTITY PERCENTAGE
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EXHIBIT E
Anonymous/Combo Citizens Pro-Active Code Officer Internal Staff
# of Complaints 132 328 142 83
% of Complaints 19%48%21%12%
132 328 142 83
19%
48%
21%
12%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
SOURCE OF 2015 CLOSED CASES
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EXHIBIT F
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
506
170
55%
45%
Properties with Multiple Violations
% of Violations # of Violations
12
EXHIBIT G