Jefferson City to resume code enforcement of storm-damaged properties Monday

Code enforcement took a back seat to recovery and assessment after the EF3 tornado that slammed the city of Jefferson on May 23.

“Over the past couple of months, we have not been concerned with tall weeds, grass, a lot of the debris,” said Sonny Sanders, director of the city’s Department of Planning & Protective Services. “We understand, with the tornado, you can’t always respond to it immediately.”

The department said, however, that on Monday, it plans to return to its usual protocol for enforcing
its property maintenance standards.

“We’re going to be going out there and notifying property owners of accumulated trash, tall weeds, tall grass basically back to business on our code enforcement,” said Sanders. “There are people living in the area with children and it’s not good to have a building that’s crumbling that’s an attractive nuisance for children who may want to go play on the area.”

Many property owners have been making significant progress with repair and abatement, but Sanders said his department must identify the properties that haven’t undergone either.

Sanders said it’s possible that some homeowners may take the financial compensation from an insurance company, decide to abandon their property and leave the city.

Sanders told ABC 17 News that his department will work with any property owner who is in need of help.

“As long as there’s progress being made, we will try to work with the property owner, but we do want to identify the properties where they’re not doing anything, because we don’t want that situation to go on,” Sanders said.

More information on this topic is available at the Jefferson City Planning and Protective Services Department website.

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