City Warns Homeowners to Clean Up Code Violations

The Olney City Council voted at a Feb. 14 meeting to warn the owners of five homes with health, safety, building or fire code violations that they have 30 days to repair, restore or demolish the properties or the city will do it for them.

The city has abated violations in about 50 structures during the past three years as part of a drive to preserve the property values of the surrounding neighborhoods, tackle vermin infestations and suppress crime, Olney Police Chief Dan Birbeck said after the council meeting.

We deal with occupied structures sometimes where there’s no water, which is required or no sewage. We’ve had it where raw sewage is running out into the yard,” Birbeck said. “They either have to bring it into compliance or we have to take action.”

The properties listed for abatement are at 608 North Avenue F, 701 West Oak Street, 405 North Avenue D, 503 West Elm Street and 1003 West Payne Street.

Property owners have 30 days to file a plan with the city to fix the problems, or the police department will “red tag” the home and give residents 72 hours to vacate, Birbeck said.

“I think the biggest point behind this is, if property owners will work with us, we will work within our means to get their property up to standard,” he said. “We are not out to tear down people’s properties, but at the end of the day, we also have to do what’s right by the community.”

City officials urged residents to contact the police department to make a plan even if they could not afford the needed repairs.

“We have had people say, ‘Hey, I can’t do this,’ and we have resources like Rolling Plains Management Corporation, and they come and do nonprofit work,” Olney Code Compliance Officer Dustin Hudson said. “The ultimate goal is to have the homeowner bring the property back up to compliance which helps with the aesthetic and property values.”

Hudson said the city also could help eligible residents whose homes are not repairable or habitable to apply to the Olney Housing Authority.

The code violations sweep at first targeted “really badly dilapidated nuisance and health and safety violations … they were a danger to the community,” Hudson said. The remaining properties with violations are mainly uninhabited and probably will need to be torn down, he said. In his three-year tenure as a code enforcement officer, Hudson said only one homeowner has worked with the city to bring a property up to state standards that dictate what a habitable structure is.

“The owner went through and completely gutted it and remodeled it, and he turned right around and sold it.”