BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Telegraph Staff Writer
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS— Clay County Commissioners discussed upgrading their code enforcement department, which handles complaints like overgrown vegetation, junk vehicles, trash, and non-permitted structures and signs on property within the county.
Commissioner Jim Renninger brought up the topic during a July 11 budget workshop in which he criticized the county’s code enforcement efforts.
“When you look at our division of code enforcement, it’s not robust at all,” the former Orange Park mayor said. “In fact, in Orange Park, we probably have as many code enforcement officers as we do in Clay County.”
County Manager Howard Wanamaker responded by telling Renninger that the department was cut back during the COVID-19 pandemic. He added that a new state law barring anonymous complaints has also affected the county’s enforcement efforts.
“We do our best across the board from public works or those that are out in the right of way to remove snipe signs and things like that,” Wanamaker told Renninger. “We do not proactively go out there unless we receive a complaint.”
The county manager added that if the board wanted to be more aggressive in code enforcement, it would have to increase staffing levels in the department.
Neighbors frustrated
Board Chair Betsy Condon cautioned against overzealous code enforcement. She cited complaints on social media criticizing the City of Green Cove Springs in which residents have been cited for using their garages as storage areas instead of for parking cars.
“But I share the frustrations of the neighbors,” she said. “There’s only so much that can be done.”
Chereese Stewart, the county’s economic and development services director, told commissioners that her staff keeps up with cases referred to the department.
She added that one area of improvement could be increased efforts to pull up illegal yard signs, also known as snipe signs, along roadways.
“We might could use a staff member to do nothing but pick up signs,” she told commissioners, “but I can tell you that was tried before, and I’d have to go back and do some research. I don’t think it was very successful, and I don’t really know why.”
Stewart said she reports the status of cases to the county manager every month, and last month, around 25 cases were opened, with around the same number closed.
‘The neighbors had to live with that mess for 13 years.’
Now, after a complaint is filed with the county, a code enforcement officer investigates the alleged violation and issues a citation to the property owner if the complaint is valid.
The county sends a follow-up letter if the property owner does not respond within 30 days. If the property owner does not respond within 60 days, the case is referred to a special magistrate who can impose fines of up to $250 a day for violations.
The county could foreclose on properties that have accrued fines. However, state law prohibits the county from foreclosing on homesteads.
Stewart said the county increased foreclosure activity about a year ago.
“One of them we closed successfully,” she said. “We got the family to come into compliance.”
“There’s another case,” she added. “We finally got the property owner’s attention. He did sell it at the very end of the foreclosure process where it became ours, he sold it ahead of time, (and) we’ll consider that one a win at this point in time.”
Condon said that while many property owners ignore citations, letters and special magistrate decisions from the county, a foreclosure notice gets their attention.
Renninger noted that one case coming before the commission later that day involved violations over a 13-year period.
“And so, the neighbors had to live with that mess for 13 years,” he said, “and I can’t disregard our constituents’ concerns about this.”
“I’m well pleased with the staff and what they’re doing,” Renninger added. “It’s just policy and resources to clean up Clay County a little bit.”
Responsibility to maintain property
Condon added that, in some cases, people move into abandoned properties that have violations.
“I have one right now that is not livable,” Condon told her colleagues. “The sheriff’s office has made more than 50 visits there this calendar year alone. The daughter of the owner was living in the garage with her boyfriend. They finally broke enough laws that they had warrants out, and so the sheriff’s office arrested both of them. They’re not there anymore. It really should be condemned…but it’s bank owned. It has a mortgage on it. The windows are all broken out. Meanwhile, it has a $400,000 code enforcement lien on it. And so, if anybody buys it, they’ll come to us for a lien reduction because they will never pay that money. (The property is) worth maybe $20,000.”
Stewart said the case Condon described is typical.
“And that’s how a lot of them are, to be honest with you,” she said. “Especially if we’re looking at doing the foreclosures, they’re not worth what it’s going to cost us to clean it up and turn back around and hire somebody to sell it.”
Stewart added that although the county’s list of code enforcement violations is long, its ability to foreclose on most of the parcels is limited because the properties are homesteads or a bank holds a mortgage on the parcels.
Renninger said one of his goals is to make the public aware of the county’s code enforcement efforts and educate property owners about their responsibility to maintain their holdings.
“If you own the property, you have to maintain it, and it just seems like that’s a foreign concept at times,” he said. “I have one in Heritage Hills that is owned by an owner in Oregon. He doesn’t understand (that with) the ownership of that property, he’s responsible for the maintenance of that property, and somehow, we have to get that across to our constituents.”
