Council wrestles with nuisance ordinance

MARENGO — The Marengo City Council discussed its nuisance ordinance this month after Councilman Travis Schlabach suggested commercial and industrial properties be held to different standards than residential.

Schlabach said sometimes companies have equipment or material staged on their properties for future use. He might have an old water heater waiting for disposal or an old roof-top unit that he uses only periodically, he said.

“That’s part of my business,” Schlabach said, and it shouldn’t be considered a nuisance that needs abated. They do not create a safety issue, he said.

Police Chief Ben Gray asked Schlabach if he’s OK with people not mowing their grass. Schlabach said that other businesses don’t have their grass mowed.

“We don’t justify one bad behavior by another,” said Gray. If a person gets a speeding ticket he can’t argue that someone else was speeding too.

Schlabach asked how many other businesses had been written up. Half a dozen or more, said Gray.

Councilwoman Karen Wayson-Kisling mentioned a property that looked terrible, and Gray said it’s one the city are working to have abated.

Schlabach said he doesn’t think five properties would pass the nuisance test.

Mayor Adam Rabe asked why the City should separate commercial from residential. What’s the difference?

“We either take care of it all or we take care of [none] of it.” Rabe said.

“Don’t you want the town to look nice?” Rabe asked Schlabach.

Does Capper’s have to mow its front ditch? asked Schlabach.

“We’re working on it,” said Gray.

The commercial businesses bring money to town, said Wayson-Kisling.

“I spend my money in town,” said Rabe.

City Administrator Karla Marck said the city has been applying these rules to commercial properties for four years.

But Schlabach argued that not all properties are being sent abatement notices.

“This is ridiculous,” Marck said of the discussion, which implied unequal enforcement of the nuisance policy.

At issue is a property that received an abatement notice for a commercial property.

“That’s on my running route,” said Councilman John Hinshaw. He saw some tall grass on a property, some cars and a shed and asked for an inquiry.

“I don’t care about grass being six inches,” said Lynn Cameron, the owner of the property in question. He was given an abatement notice for tall grass at 774 E. South St.and has since mowed it.

“It kind of snowballed,” said Cameron. The notice moved from a complaint about tall grass to the driveway, vehicles and shed. He wants to know what he can do on his industrial property, he said.

Part of the problem stemmed from City officials not knowing some of the City’s ordinances.

Public Works Director Lonnie Altenhofen said he’s worked for the City a long time. “I have never issued a permit for a driveway,” he said. He didn’t know the law required it.

Now he knows and will instruct people to get permits, he said.

Cameren said the east end of his property is timber with water. He wondered if he’d be cited for having tall grass if he can’t mow it because it’s too wet.

“We have plenty of retention ditches,” said Gray. People aren’t required to mow when it’s wet.

But when it’s dry that’s the time to trim it up and make it look good, Gray said.

“I am sorry that there is miscommunication going on,” Marck told Cameron. No one wants to discourage Cameron from expanding his business, she said.

“This whole conversation came from me telling him to do something and he did it,” said Gray. The issue has been taken care of. Nothing else needs to be done.

Gray is doing what the council asked him to do. He’s enforcing the ordinances.

Cameron said he had understood that industrial property was different from residential. He can’t have the cars and shed on his residential property, so he bought industrial.

“I am against storing stuff on an empty lot,” said Councilman John Hinshaw. He said he wants to get away from the mentality that residents can do anything they want on their property.

All cities regulate what property owners can and cannot do, Hinshaw said.

Cameron aid the vehicles on the property are used for his business. That’s why he bought a commercial property. He thought he couldn’t store them on residential property, he said.

City Attorney Gabe Kensler said that other towns he represents don’t distinguish between residential and commercial in their nuisance ordinances.