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Residents unaware of many city codes, officials say
By Tasha Hayton, Staff Writer
Many Coppell residents do not seem aware of city codes enforcing heights of grass, shrubs and trees as well as various other codes in the city, officials said.
The top violations include grass height, height of minimum overhang, lack of address numbering in alleys, improperly placed trash and stagnant pools.
The No. 1 violated code in Coppell is lawns with weeds, brush or grass more than 12 inches in height, said Sharon Logan, community information officer for the city of Coppell.
Yard trimmings are collected separately at each residence’s regular trash and recycling point and all yard trimmings will be taken to a compost facility, Logan said. The trimmings will be composted and used as a valuable resource and the recycling limits the amount of excess space used at the landfill, she said.
Once a city code is violated, code enforcement will leave a note on the residence’s door giving the owners seven days to comply with the codes. If the codes are not met in the seven days, a certified letter will be sent giving the owners another seven days after they have signed for the letter to comply with the codes, said Laurie Marshall, code enforcement officer for Coppell.
If after the notice and the letter the violation has not been corrected, the owners will be ticketed, Marshall said.
In some circumstances, codes have been violated because the owners are out of town or are elderly and unable to care for their lawn themselves. In cases in which the owners are elderly or unable, Marshall said, she will call churches to ask for volunteer help to care for the lawns in violation.
About 80 percent of the code violations are found by code enforcement, and the rest are reported by neighbors, she said.
There are times that neighbors will call on neighbors but will have violations themselves, Marshall said.
Although many people do report violations, Marshall said, many people in Coppell can call or report on the city Web site anonymously so that the reporting doesn’t cause feuds.
In some cases when the owners of a property in violation don’t make an effort to fix the grass violations, Marshall will hire a company to mow the grass and send the owners the bill including the cost of having the grass mowed and a $100 administration fee.
Although she has been called the “grass police,” Marshall said, her work entails much more than just dealing with owners who won’t have their grass mowed.
Many of the other codes are specifically for safety or health safety, she said.
One of the top 10 most common code violations is stagnant pools. Oftentimes the owners will move and let the property go into foreclosure and leave a swimming pool without care, Marshall said.
Stagnant pools are a big health concern in Coppell, she said. And since it is such a large violation, Marshall won’t leave notices on the door but send a letter through certified mail, she said.
Violations such as stagnant pools have higher fees as the violations are causing unhealthy surroundings. The stagnant pools can cost up to $2,000 a day in tickets, Marshall said.
If the city sends a pool cleaning crew out to the stagnant pools, it doesn’t always fix the problem as most residences with stagnant pools are without electricity, which means the pumps won’t work and the pool will quickly become stagnant again, she said.
In addition to safety concerns such as stagnant pools, the second most common code violation is trees or shrubs overhanging causing difficulty for emergency services such as fire trucks to pass, Logan said.
The trees must have a overhang of greater than 14 feet over a public driveway, street or alley. If the overhang is less than 14 feet it may cause damage to fire engines or cause the engine no way to pass on the street, she said.
Such as with the grass, the city can hire out or do the work to trim the overhang and bill the property owners for the cost of work, a $100 administration fee and 10 percent interest per year, Logan said.
Also as with the grass, limbs or branches can be recycled as yard trimmings by cutting them into 4 feet sections and tying into bundles weighing less than 50 pounds. The trimmings will be collected on Saturdays, she said.
Marshall said people have to remember the alley is also included in the code violations for overhang and the limbs can simply be pruned.
Another common issue among code violations is proper placement of trash cans and trash for pick up. People can put their trash bins out for pick up the night before the pick up day, but they must pull the containers off the street the same day of pick up, Marshall said.
The containers can not be left out all the time as they could tip over or animals could knock them over causing debris to be scattered, she said.
Although many people might be frustrated with the codes or disagree, the purpose is for safety, she said.
“It really is for people’s safety,” Marshall said.
Another big safety issue is the proper and visible address numbering on the fronts and backs of homes, she said.
If there are no addresses in the alleys, the fire department has a difficult time finding homes during an emergency, said Deputy Chief Tim Oates of the Coppell Fire Department.
The numbers must be four inches tall and plainly visible, Logan said.
Other major issues for the fire department include high grass, which allows fire to move easily from property to property, Oates said.
Also, the overhang limits visibility and causes damage to emergency vehicles, he said.
All the violations relate directly to safety, he said.
“Safety starts with the code enforcement division,” Oates said.
Contact staff writer Tasha Hayton at 972-628-4078 or at thayton@acnpapers.com.
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