The community has supported new property maintenance regulations leading to meaningful change, the Cleburne Police and Fire chiefs told the City Council at a recent meeting.
Police Chief Rob Severance and Fire Chief Scott Lail presented an update to the City Council at its March 26 meeting. The presentation included information on code compliance cases after new regulations went into effect on Jan. 1, 2019, shared examples of owner-improved properties, and gave a look at the tools the City has to notify residents of violations.
“We’ve been talking about cleaning things up, leaving nobody behind, and helping one another and we’re making good progress,” Mayor Scott Cain said.
City Council adopted the International Property Maintenance Code and other property regulations last fall, which hold residences and businesses to modern standards. Compared to many North Texas communities, Cleburne did not have the same level of property maintenance codes. This initiative was a joint effort between the City, residents, development community members, and businesses.
These changes introduce policies that numerous municipalities around the world have already adopted and that many residents expect including addressing the parking of vehicles in residential neighborhoods, noxious and invasive plants, and more.
“As we’ve gone through clean up processes, we’ve had numerous citizens just say ‘Thank you,’ ‘You’re doing a good job,’ ‘It’s helping,’ ‘You’re making a difference,’ ” Chief Lail said. “We want Cleburne to be livable and more aesthetically appealing.”
From the start of 2019, Code Compliance has received 792 complaints of code violations from residents and has closed 478. Chief Lail said many of these complaints originated from neighbors and residents solved a majority of the cases with voluntary compliance.
The presentation highlighted several residences where the property owners met standards after receiving a notice to repair, which the City uses asking for voluntary compliance.
“We hope to gain voluntary compliance, that’s what we really want out of this effort,” Chief Severance said.
