Ordinance Enforcement
By Christine Laughren, Staff Writer
Starting Wednesday, Ypsilanti will be able to remove snow from private properties, at the property owner's expense.
But how well this new ordinance amendment and other ordinances also on the books are enforced is another issue entirely; and it is an issue that has been brought up at Ypsilanti City Council meetings time and again.
Council had the opportunity do discuss ordinances a little more in-depth at Tuesday night's special meeting. Administrative Service Director April McGrath presented background information on the purpose of ordinance enforcement, general categories of enforcement and standard procedures to new and senior members of council.
"I just think there is a need for some understanding in code enforcement," McGrath said Tuesday afternoon. "Every code has a different way it is enforced, it is not like somebody walks around with a ticket book and just gives tickets all day; it's more than that."
During the special meeting McGrath explained that Charles Boulard, who left the city last January, served as the building official, the building director and the building inspector for the city.
As part of the city's restructuring, in an effort to save funds, McGrath now oversees a building official and inspector, both contracted through Pittsfield Township, as well as the new Building Manager Frank Daniels, Jr.
"Mr. Boulard did a fantastic job of keeping the majority of these issues in the forefront and how to deal with them and I think when he left in January we started to see some of those things fall through the cracks," McGrath said.
McGrath said she has been utilizing a Nuisance Abatement Team, which meets bi-weekly, for complex ordinance enforcement. She said topics range from issues with one property, to a neighborhood, to dangerous buildings. The Fire Chief, Police Lt, City Attorney, Ordinance Officer, Rental Housing Inspectors and Planner all participate in these meetings.
Issues raised by council
Brian Robb, D-Ward 3, said he had a big list of items he thinks have fallen through the cracks. He said he wants to prioritize the problem areas council would like to address and understand why some things take so long to enforce.
Robb sited JC Beal's Thompson Block as an example of slow enforcement. He said the City Manager Ed Koryzno told him Ordinance Officer Ronnie Monroe wrote violations in August and September with no results.
"What happened to those violations?" Robb asked. "It's like he wrote them and nothing happened.
"What I'm looking for is what is the next step, why didn't the next step happen and how can we fix it."
Another code violation raised by several members of council was the issue of parked vehicles on city streets as well as in yards.
The city prohibits parking on city streets for more than 48 hours at a time. Residents are not prohibited to park vehicles in their front yard and parking is also prohibited on certain streets between 2 and 6 a.m. in order to facilitate the cleaning of streets and the removal of snow.
Mayor Pro-tem Trudy Swanson, D-Ward 1, said she has an issue with residents parking their cars in their yard. She said she knows of a house near her that has had a car in the yard for more than six months.
Michael Bodary, D-Ward 2, Robb as well as several community members have also taken issue with the lack of clearing the snow away from on-street parking on main thoroughfares. Michigan Avenue and Cross Street were pointed out as specific examples of trouble areas.
Bodary said he doesn't see any reason why parking citations can't be written at 4 a.m to get the cars off the street and the snow removed.
"A parking ticket takes, what, 30 seconds to write," Bodary said. "You could write a few of them and not take a lot of the officers time."
Dave Heikkinen, owner of Heikk's Decorated Apparel Studio at 133 W. Michigan Ave., said the city's ordinance process is "disjointed."
"They want us to be responsible for the sidewalks and look what happens to the on-street parking," he said.
Heikkinen also said the city has been slow to clear the parking lots as well. For instance snow that fell Saturday was not cleared away until Tuesday.
"I know there is a budget issue but still, we want people to feel comfortable coming downtown," he said.
Other business owners shared concerns about snow removal during the holiday shopping season. Sheila Miller, owner of Simply DeVine, said the parking lots were not cleared as quickly as they should have been during peak shopping days and customers were complaining that there was no parking.
Thoughts from residents
Most residents say they are sympathetic to the occasional snow-laden sidewalk, tall grass or even trash cans being placed by the curb a day or two early. Many say it is the repeat offenders who tend to raise their ire.
Kurt Anschuetz said the sidewalks around the former Motor Wheel plant, now Bay Logistics, is always full of snow. The plant sits at the corner of Norris Street and Forrest Avenue.
Anschuetz said the walk to Eastern Michigan University can be difficult for residents coming down Forrest Street.
"It's just a pain," he said.
Dan Meikle said he is tired of trudging through the snow in front of the train depot, owned by Dennis Dahlmann.
"I don't think that stretch of sidewalk is ever shoveled," he said.
Meikle said idle threats from the city aren't going to encourage property owners to follow city code.
"I'm a little disappointed some neighbors could bring the value of my house down because they choose not to mow or leave cars in the street," he said. "If you don't want to take care of your house, then buy a condo."
Moving forward
Mayor Paul Schreiber was relatively quiet throughout Tuesday night's special meeting.
"My concern is that staff is already burdened quite a bit and I don't want to put any more burden on them," Schreiber said.
The mayor said the city has made several cuts in recent years, closing 13 positions. He also said the city of Ann Arbor is going through similar changes. Calls made to Ann Arbor's Community Standards department were not returned.
Superior Township Supervisor William McFarlane said his municipality has a part-time ordinance enforcement officer, who works about 10 hours a week. McFarlane said the ordinance officer supplies a report to the Township board once a month but mostly provides warnings to residents who are not in compliance.
"The goal is to give people a chance to be successful," he said.
McGrath said the city, which has almost double the number of residents than Superior Township, used to lean toward education and warnings, but she said the trend seems to be shifting to enforcement.
She said council members should communicate with her the issues they would like see resolved in their ward because staff will never be aware of every ordinance issue in the city.
"In the winter (the ordinance officer) is going to be focusing on snow and sidewalks and in the summer he is crazy busy with lawn, grass and garbage," she said. "Don't ever assume...that we are aware of a parked car that has been in somebody's yard for six months because if he's not looking particularly for parked cars that might not be in the forefront but if at the time he is looking at long grass while he's out doing his rout he is going to be looking for long grass."
McGrath said she though she got a clear picture of what council's concerns and frustrations are regarding ordinance enforcement. She said she would start work right away with Assistant City Attorney Karl Barr as well as the Ypsilanti Police Department to address the parked car issue.
"The expectations are there, we just need to adapt to them," she said.
The purpose of ordinance enforcement is to achieve code compliance so that the residents of Ypsilanti may enjoy a cleaner, safer and better place to live. Areas of concentration include:
# Improvement of neighborhoods
# Integrity of property value
# Compliance with Zoning and Building Codes
Five categories of enforcement:
# Property Maintenance, Blight and Animal Control
# Building Codes
# Rental Housing Codes
# Zoning Codes
# Life and Safety and Fire Code
Who enforces what:
# Building/Construction - Pittsfield Township
# Mechanical, Electric, Plumbing - Outside contract through the City of YpsilantiRental Housing Codes - Ypsilanti Rental Inspectors
# Blight, Property and Animal Control- Ypsilanti's Ordinance Officer
# Zoning Codes-Ypsilanti Building Manager
# Fire Code - Ypsilanti Fire Department
What are people saying?
"I just think there is a need for some understanding in code enforcement. Every code has a different way it is enforced, it is not like somebody walks around with a ticket book and just gives tickets all day; it's more than that."
April McGrath, Administrative Service Director
"I'm a little disappointed some neighbors could bring the value of my house down because they choose not to mow or leave cars in the street."
Dan Meikle, Ypsilanti Resident
"They want us to be responsible for the sidewalks and look what happens to the on-street parking."
Dave Heikkinen, owner of Heikk's Decorated Apparel Studio
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