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Item No: 7 Meeting Date: 3/5/01 Type of Business: WK WK: Work Session; PH: Public Hearing; CA: Consent Agenda; CB: Council Business City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Honorable Mayor & City Council From: Jeremiah Anderson, Housing/Code Enforcement Inspector Item Title/Subject: Discussion regarding possible amendments to Chapter 607, Nuisances, of the City Code Date of Report: February 26, 2001 Background: Chapter 604 of the Mounds View City Code, Nuisances, was completely repealed and replaced with a new Chapter 607, Nuisances, on March 20, 1995 with the passage of Ordinance 556. One of the biggest changes that came with Ordinance 556 was the addition of some City abatement procedures. Since that time, there have been only minor changes to the existing Nuisance Code. Almost six years have passed since the last major review of the Nuisance Code. During that time, enforcement issues relating to junk, garbage, debris and abandoned/junk vehicles have accounted for the majority of all violations. These violations continue to be the most prevalent and are, the most time consuming violations for staff to resolve due to their abundance and the social/economic conditions that often accompany their presence. In addition to consuming staff time, these types of violations contribute to urban blight, which has a direct impact on the appearance of a community. The current provisions of the Nuisance Code allow for the abatement of vehicles and other public nuisances. However, after review of the current enforcement provisions in the Nuisance Code, it appears that several areas may need to be clarified in order to allow staff uniform enforcement procedures that are at a minimum, equal to Minnesota State Statutes. When a vehicle is found to be in violation of the provisions in Chapter 607 of the City Code, a notice of violation is sent out to the property owner specifying a timeframe for compliance. If the property owner does not comply within the timeframe allowed, staff has two primary options available; 1) Begin the abatement process, or 2) Issue an Administrative Offense or Ramsey County District Court Citation. Since the primary goal of a code compliance program is not to impose monetary fines, but rather gain overall compliance, the fines associated with the two approaches in option 2) infrequently achieve the desired result of compliance.