2. Please address City of Frederick code enforcement, including: a. Blighted and vacant properties; The Blighted and Vacant Property Committee, appointed by the current Mayor to review the City of Frederick‘s policies regarding vacant and blighted residential and commercial properties, is a step in the right direction. There needs to be a framework to attack a problem. Obviously, whatever is in the code at this juncture is either not being enforced or does not contain language that can address and solve the problem. The next Mayor and Board of Aldermen will need to move forward to use tools at their disposal, or formulate policy to change the situation. b. Trash in empty lots; Empty lots can be private or public. In the case of empty public lots, if there aren’t enough City employees to address the problem, then a starting point would be to use citizens that have to fulfill community service hours to pick up trash on public property in targeted areas, especially in downtown Frederick where there is a concentration of tourism. Private land owners with consistent litter on vacant lots should be contacted by Frederick City for code infractions and fined if necessary. Trash can be an everyday annoying occurrence in empty lots or on heavily pedestrian trafficked streets in any city, and the City of Frederick should encourage local business owners and residents, as a best practices policy, to keep the City as clean and business friendly as possible. c. Overgrown properties; Again, as with trash in empty lots, overgrown properties can include private or public property. In the case of private property, I would enforce the code already in effect. Notice would be given for an infraction and, if the problem was not addressed in the time allotted, then a citation would be issued with a monetary fine. For public property in the downtown area, I would suggest that a Commission be set up to coordinate volunteers, especially interested garden clubs, to weed and replant targeted properties where public spaces need to be kept immaculate for tourism. There have been weed gardens near some parking decks, specifically the Church Street deck. This is not a good thing because the Church Street deck is where many tourists park. It does seem that, within the last month, the Church Street deck planted area has shown improvement. d. Overcrowding and how Code Enforcement should handle overcrowding; Overcrowding could be a result of the poor economy, but it compromises livability standards for adjoining property owners. The code should be enforced to require the exit of occupants that are over the allotted amount of density per square foot. e. Noise and the current use of the FPD to enforce the noise ordinance; Citations and fines should be given for repeat offenders. Since the FPD has officers on duty 24/7, it seems the logical department to deal with enforcing the noise ordinance. The FPD has the manpower, communications equipment, and transportation to aid the City in dealing with the problem. f. Proactive code enforcement (City employees go look for issues) versus reactive enforcement (City employees wait for citizens to complain). I believe that Frederick City citizens, by and large, live within the City code, so I don’t think we need a beefed up code enforcement department. Adjoining property owners readily provide reactive enforcement at no cost to the City. Proactive code enforcement is the correct tool for blatant infractions of the code that would interfere with the safety and well being of the citizenry, and for permit violations.
Posted on: Wed, 28 Aug 2013 01:53:30 +0000
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