Woodstock Code Enforcement – Part 1

Recently I’ve been pondering the work of Code Enforcement in Woodstock. Here in our town we have an employee of the City of Woodstock whose job it is to enforce the City Codes. Not the traffic codes, but the non-traffic codes that keep our town looking nice.

Thanks to a lot of help from Derik Morefield, Deputy City Manager for Community and Economic Development, I have a much better understanding of the function of the Code Enforcement section of the Community Development Department and the job of our town’s Code Enforcement Officer, Donovan Day.

The City ordinances of most interest to me are the ones that keep the town looking nice. These are commonly known as Nuisance Ordinances, not because the ordinances are a nuisance, but because the actions of residents may create a nuisance.

Take, for example, an accumulation of debris or storage of a vehicle on a residential property. There is an ordinance on the books at Section 4.1.3.4 that reads,

“The unenclosed or unsheltered storage or standing of one or more items of personal property that is ‘abandoned, discarded, unused, stripped, junked, dismantled, scrapped, salvaged, not in running condition, or not in good and safe operating condition for a period of ten (10) days or more’ is considered a nuisance.

“Such personal property includes, but is not limited to, automobiles, trucks, trailers, buses, tractors, farm implements, farm machinery, motorcycles, wagons, construction equipment, and any other type of vehicle or parts thereof. It shall also include lumber, wood, junk, trash, debris, paper, tires, furniture, stoves, refrigerators, freezers, plumbing fixtures, cans, and containers; industrial and other waste; copper, brass, iron, steel tin and similar metals; rags, batteries, machinery and any other ferrous or nonferrous material, goods, or articles.”

Let’s say that a person parks a truck in his backyard and “forgets” about it. Tires go flat; tree limbs fall on it; maybe a window breaks; eventually the battery dies and the engine won’t start; the bed of the truck becomes a storage place for trash, old tires, junk, cans, maybe garbage. Or an accumulation of discarded items begins to grow and remains for days, weeks or months.

A neighbor to the residence in violation might notify Donovan Day by calling him at City Hall or emailing him at CodeEnforcement@woodstockil.gov Donovan will then visit the property and educate the tenant or property owner about the City Code. He will request that the property be brought into compliance with the City Code, and he will issue a Notice of Violation (NOV) to document the violation.

Donovan works well with Woodstock’s wide variety of residents and will allow a little time for compliance to occur. If the property is a rental, Donovan will first contact the tenant. If the problem cannot be resolved through tenant contact, the property owner is ultimately responsible for his property being in compliance.

In many cases, this is all that is necessary, and the problem is resolved. Watch for Part 2 on Code Enforcement, where further steps to gain compliance will be presented.