It’ll show up on the radar sometime this spring but one of the initiatives that I’m working on is stricter enforcement of zoning laws.
One of the problems that Manassas will face in the future is protecting older neighborhoods from decline. A sure way for this to happen is to allow cruft to accumulate: cars in yards, trash and other types of blight. We currently have a zoning inspector and a Neighborhood Services Coordinator and they are working hard at this but seeing what I’ve seen and hearing what I’ve heard the past few weeks, I just can’t escape the notion that the City Government (not her employees) isn’t placing enough emphasis on the issue. We can’t let this happen. This is our home and we need to keep it squared away!
Just so we’re clear, zoning laws relate to the appearance and use of real property. There are some aspects of it that get into overcrowding but my focus is maintenance and use. The ordinances that I’m looking to get tighter enforcement on have been on the books for years and are nuts-and-bolts municipal authority kind of stuff.
To this end, I’m working with City Staff to put together a program that will leverage all of the public resources the City has to get this problem under control. The folks there are good at what they do and I’ve gotten some good feedback from them that will flesh out facts and make this a better program. Working with them and my fellow councilmen, I’m hoping we can put this together shortly but time will tell.
In short, I’m sick of seeing the problem worsen and it’s time we saddled up and got to it. In Herdon, which has a population of about 22,000, they have Five (5) full-time zoning people. We have one. I don’t know that we can immediately afford more but I do believe that we have resources that can be leveraged to help.
January 29, 2007 at 1:14 pm
“Town Council Orders Clean-up….. Without doubt this movement
for cleanliness is the most vital problem now confronting Manassas.
…. it is imperative that the process of cleaning up the Town proceed
and without delay.” MANASSAS DEMOCRAT March 31,1910.
You go for it, Andy!
January 29, 2007 at 4:26 pm
Andy,
This is an excellent idea. And it would be money well spent.
January 31, 2007 at 11:24 am
Andy,
Move forward with your ideas. The beauracracy at city hall may not like it, but a little of a shake up is probably needed.
January 31, 2007 at 2:40 pm
Tighter enforcement, right track. Unfortunatey this applies to both residential and commercial property. Ugly seems to be especially in vogue in commercial realty presently (look at the dance studio off Rt 28 by Southern States or the run-down Rt 28 North or Rt 234 South corridors. Not to mention the homes that should be condemed on Rt 234 South. While you’re at it can you change the sign ordinance so that it mandates english only? I’m particullarly offended by the “se habla” signs in Old Town.
February 1, 2007 at 7:27 am
Andy,
I am in 100% agreement that a Zero-tolerance for zoning violations is a great initiative. Universal enforcement will help shield the City when the nay-Sayers cry that this targets a particular group of citizens, legal or illegal.
The one concern that I do have (which is typified by a commenter above) is that this will target “ugly” structures. The particular building that was described is not “ugly” in my opinion, and it stands at the gateway of my neighborhood. Could it be a little prettier? Sure. A mural or something might do the trick, but then again, some might think the artwork “ugly”. The reason why I say this is that the particular building is IMHO, not entirely out of character for Cockrell Road. Adjacent to the property is a Shriners temple, and then after that, four residential structures. Two seem to be well-kept, although they are old. One is an occupied dwelling that is full of Hispanics (immigration status unknown), and I have observed Chickens running around on the property. One is a condemned shack, which until recently, had an abandoned car on the property. This is the spectrum in microcosm. What I don’t want to see are efforts to generate an undue burden on the owner of the dance studio, who’s building although not the most beautiful structure is clean, functional, and in good repair, while ignoring the shack right down the road.
I believe that what you are proposing is 100% enforcement of solid, objective zoning criteria, and not subjective “beauty” opinions. If this is the case, then I will support your efforts to the fullest.
February 1, 2007 at 10:24 am
This is a good idea, but experience tells me that,as with many things,
the devil is in the details. Read the two previous writers and
their view on the new dance studio on Cockrell Road. Where do property
uses run so counter to community values that government steps in?
When I was an HOA president, some years ago, I was called
a “damned Nazi” for asking people to obey the rules and regulations
they should have read and signed at their closing. The city covers
a much wider and less defined spectrum than that group of townhouses.
Good luck, Andy. You are moving things in the right direction, but
don’t be surprised by “blow back”.
February 1, 2007 at 11:30 am
Big Ol’ Dog, et.al.:
I have no doubt that there will be blow back. I’m trying to look over the horizon to see what possible problems there are but I’ve never tried this before so it is well nigh impossible. We’ll just have to adjust the program as we go along. Nothing like this is perfect the first time and we will need to keep our ear to the ground.
February 2, 2007 at 10:27 pm
Oh so now the “se habla espanol” people are reponsible for the ugly dance studio and everyone’s cracked paint and broken downspouts.
“…full of Hispanics (immigration status unknown)…” [edited]
You people are worrying about your neighbor’s precious broken white picket fence and there are people in Manassas living in trailers and cardboard boxes in the woods..freezing and starving. Let’s tear down a car dealership and build a Homeless shelter with social programs to get people on their feet and productive members of society.
February 3, 2007 at 11:41 am
“Let’s tear down a car dealership and build a Homeless shelter with social programs to get people on their feet and productive members of society. ”
The typical [edit] response. Tear down a productive business, which employs people, generates tax revenue, and is a legitimate function of the community, in favor of a social program. Why stop there? Manassas could use a methadone clinic, to help all of the heroin addicts out there. Never mind that they are in their situation because they made bad life-choices. How about a city-funded medical clinic, to serve all of the illegals (who shouldn’t be here anyway).
You have missed the point of Andy’s efforts. Zero tolerance will address all voilations of zoning, regardless of the race, origin or immigration status of violator. Once neighborhoods start to decline, the city is in trouble. For someone who is so concerned about the welfare of people, I would think that you would want safe, clean neighborhoods for illegals to live in.
February 3, 2007 at 1:08 pm
Hey ManassasRez:
Just wonderin’, have you ever heard of SERVE? Have you or your dollars ever been there?
February 4, 2007 at 11:28 am
Manassas does have facilities for the homeless such as SERVE,
but they they rules – such as no booze or drugs – which many of the
hard core homeless don’t want to follow. It is a more complex issue
than it seems at first.
Another dynamic – is how does Manassas do its part without being
a magnet to those in need all over North America? A friend
sent be a piece from the Arizona Republic (8-26-2001) titled
“Manassas cultures separate, peaceful” – we were selected one
of four best destinations in the entire United States
for Hispanic immigrants. You know where that got us.
The challenge is to be both compassionate and pragmatic. – that
is a work in progress.
February 4, 2007 at 1:00 pm
“such as no booze or drugs – which many of the
hard core homeless don’t want to follow. It is a more complex issue”
Sound’s pretty simple to me. Throw away your life on booze and drugs, don’t expect charity or public assistance. Clean and sober people who need a boost, get a boost. Places like SERVE help families with children.
February 4, 2007 at 3:16 pm
Hey Steve, Revokin, and Big Old Dog: “Zero tolerance will address all voilations of zoning, regardless of the race, origin or immigration status of violator.”
Call city hall this week and leave your adderesses so that the neighborhood cracked paint inspectors can start the zero tolorence enforcement at your houses. okay with that fellas???
And by the way, lot’s of my dollars and my sweat go to places like SERVE.
Mostly with the innocent babies that can’t work, don’t drink and are starving. And take a ride around the “Queen City” and look at all those “productive” car dealerships that are ripping off low-income folks.
Don’t judge me, and don’t edit my comments.
February 4, 2007 at 10:09 pm
Hello Andy,
Could you send me at least three, but not more than ten locations, from one house or business, or up to an entire neighborhood or commercial site. I will attempt an objective surveillance and report back with an opinion. Some of the statements on your Web-site seem well motivated and fair, but some of them are obviously slanted by an agenda that has nothing to do with zoning. Is it my imagine that which are which is obvious?
Q: If you had zoning applied to your web-site, and it was zoned for intelligent and fair commentary, would you then enforce it strictly?
I believe that your sincerity and effort are impeccably motivated, but as Big Old Dog says, “…the devil is in the details”. Therefore, I am concerned that your Tree of Sincerity could produce Fruits of Unfairness through the enforcement program. It would not be a first time for Virginia. Anyhow, I would like to see the problem first.
Thank you,
Nathan
February 5, 2007 at 9:07 am
Nathan! Thanks for posting. I will not send you a list of places to surveil! I’m not looking to spy on citizens. I am looking to get cars out of back yards and get the rest of the code enforced. People like to complain about the “chipped paint squad” but we have a large and serious problem to deal with before we get to chipped paint.
Also, I do agree that the program could generate “Fruits of Unfairness” but it might also make our City a better place to live. I think it’s worth the risk; we’ll just have to make sure it’s applied fairly.
If you want to see the problem, drop me a line and we’ll go for a ride.
February 5, 2007 at 9:37 am
“Call city hall this week and leave your adderesses so that the neighborhood cracked paint inspectors can start the zero tolorence enforcement at your houses. okay with that fellas???”
ManassasRez,
City Hall has my address, and I am well known to them. Anyone from the City is welcome to come and look at my property at any time, and they will find my home to be in full compliance. You see, I am one of those involved citizens. I have spoken before council too many times to count, have served on a task force, and participate in local politics. I am sick of the degradation of our schools and neighborhoods, but instead of packing it in, and moving, I am sticking it out. I will support the efforts of our elected officials who are trying to find lawful, workable solutions to these issues, and I will oppose people like yourself, liberals, who will try to frustrate our elected representation at every turn.
As to the Esq. who would like to conduct “surveillance”, I question your true motives. Are you really concerned about keeping zoning enforcement fair, or are you tolling for potential clients in some sort of suit against the City, for “unfairly” targeting this group or that.
February 5, 2007 at 2:24 pm
A search in martindale.com for Nathan Loew turns up “no matches found”. Interesting.
February 5, 2007 at 3:14 pm
Gentlemen:
Back on topic please.
February 5, 2007 at 6:48 pm
Mr. Thomas,
In all due respect, I bet if an inspector went to your house he/she could find a violation of the building and/or zoning codes. there are few houses in the City that do not have a least one or two violations of some sort and while I o not know where you live, I do believe it would be a safe bet to say you have at least one violation, but I do agree with most of what you say. While I agree that we need more enforcement in the City, we need more inspectors to perform those duties. I am willing to bet that one zoning inspector has a hard enough time keeping up with citizen complaints let alone being proactive and going out to look for violations. I really don’t understand what zero tolerance is. Do you think that a zoning inspector goes out and picks and chooses what owners to write a violation too and which ones he doesn’t? I believe that if an inspector is called to inspect a house, and he/she finds a violation, he either tells the owner to fix with a time frame to fix and if it isn’t repaired then he writes a notice of violation. Do you really believe that the inspectors do not take care of every violation? Or do you want every owner written a notice and take away the inspector’s discretion to work with home owners to abate violations? I just really do not understand zero tolerance. Can someone explain that to me? It sounds as if the council does not trust the employees of the city to do their job. Remember, the council members are not professionals at code enforcement, the inspectors have been trained to do that work and we as citizens should trust them when they say a violation truly exists and one doesn’t. Aslso remember, the codes are minimum standards. What you think is a violation and what is a violation may be two different things. I believe th HOA’s could do more as they have more authority to make people clean up their property than city enforcement inspectors.
February 5, 2007 at 9:24 pm
CitizenSam:
I don’t think it’s a question of staff competence. I believe it is a question of priorities. When it takes me 10 minutes to find a house that has 3 cars parked in the back yard, enforcement clearly isn’t a priority. This is why the resolution that I’m putting together is long on desired results and largely silent on implementation. I’m a computer guy, not a zoning expert.
February 5, 2007 at 9:48 pm
So what are your priorities? Mine as a citizen are reaching a city employee and having him answer my complaint. I have never had a problem reaching a city employee. You still haven’t defined zero tolerance. It looks like to me that staff priorities are to answer citizen complaints. Isn’t that what they are suppossed to be doing? The only resolution I see is hiring additional help. That is the only way to have it both ways, i.e. being able to answer citizen complaints and being able to go out and look for violations. I would even be willing to pay higher taxes to be able to get the additional staff. Either way, I like what you are doing, just be careful and think about the unintended results of the priorities you set and also allow the staff hired to do their job. As an employee of Arlington County, I know what happens when elected officials try to run a city/county rather than allowing the experts thay hired to do their job.
February 6, 2007 at 7:27 am
“You still haven’t defined zero tolerance.”
Take a ride down Cockrell Road. You will see several structures that are in need of “Zero Tolerance” enforcement, especially the one next to the JW Temple.
February 6, 2007 at 5:35 pm
Mr. Thomas, that does not answer the question. It sounds as if you want the zoning person to be what I call proactive, which they just can’t do with one inspector. Quite frankly, I want the inspector to answer citizen complaints first. Now if I am incorrect and a complaint has been lodged about those property owners, then I stand corrected. Also, I know that several complaints have been lodged about the building on Centreville road that used to be the home of some junk store. When is the City going after that property owner?
February 6, 2007 at 6:08 pm
“It sounds as if you want the zoning person to be what I call proactive, which they just can’t do with one inspector. ”
You are correct, which is, I believe,why Andy makes the comparison to Herndon, half our size, with many more inspectors. You are also correct that the City should field the complaints first, if all they have is one inspector. However, if the inspectors are only answering complaints, I think that certain groups may feel unfairly targeted (thus the DOJ investigation and lawsuit regarding the overcrowding taskforce). Zero Tolerance, with proactive inspections would blunt their arguments, since the inspector has no idea who owns or occupies the building, when he or she sees the cars parked on the lawn. He just sees a violation, and writes the citation.
February 6, 2007 at 10:17 pm
Pardon me Mr. Thomas, [edit]. You really don’t think that an inspector doesn’t know wheather a hispanic family or an american family live in a house then you don’t have a clue which is why the daily operation of the City should be left to the professionals and not the elected officials. I believe Andy said it best earlier, “I’m a computer guy, not a zoning expert.” And it is not as easy as just writing a violation for parking on the grass…please. Pardon me but I won’t post any more responses if this is what I have to deal with and I know I will pay more attention to who I am voting for in the future. I obviously made the wrong choice.
February 6, 2007 at 11:12 pm
Sam:
I think it is just that easy but I could be wrong. Happily for all involved, I’ll never find out. I’m not a zoning inspector. I’m a City Councilman who is just interested in results. I plan on setting a direction and hearing back from staff in 60 (or so) days so we can evaluate what, if anything, needs to change. I have full confidence in our staff and their ability to execute this initiative. They are smart, competent people and they can get it done.
February 7, 2007 at 9:09 am
“You really don’t think that an inspector doesn’t know wheather a hispanic family or an american family live in a house then you don’t have a clue which is why the daily operation of the City should be left to the professionals and not the elected officials.”
An easy assertion to make, a difficult one to prove. Based on what I have observed, I think this needs to be considered:
Just as the DOJ is looking at whether or not the overcrowding taskforce had the appearence of targetng hispanics (the actual intent is not important to the DOJ), this initiative will recieve attention. That is why the city cannot rely solely on citizen initiated complaints. Of course most if not all of the overcrowded homes were inhabited by hispanics. Cultural and socio-economic factors are driving them to live this way. So it is logical that most of the citizens complaints are directed against hispanic homes. HUD and DOJ don’t see it this way. They see it as a program to target Hispanics. Immigration status doesn’t matter to them. Enforcement of fire codes doesn’t matter to them. What matters is the appearence of a local government targeting a particular, identifiable group.
So, to your argument that the inspector does indeed know who is living in the house with three cars parked on the front lawn, it does not matter. What matters is whether or not the policy appears to target a particular group. If the inspector is proactively working to find blatant violations, the program can stand up to legal challenge. Proactive universal inforcement is the best solution.
As to your assertion that I am an example of why we should leave it to the professionals… I don’t hold a public office. I am but one citizen, who’s vote an voice counts no more, but no less than yours. I would encourage you to continue to post, as we should never run away from public debate. Andy is looking for input. Yours is just as important as mine.
February 7, 2007 at 2:22 pm
I think we should have DOJ and HUD look into various jurisdictions where little old ladies, who keep too many cats/dogs, are being arrested for neglect to animals…I think they are being picked on because of their age and gender. Why do we arrest them for living in nasty living conditions? Is this not their choice of living? Is living in filth not their right? Just because they allow the animals to do as they please? I just find it humorous that we are TRYING SO HARD NOT TO OFFEND a particular ethnic group because THAT’s HOW THEY CHOSE TO LIVE.
Over crowding is over crowding regardless of it being humans or animals…One ethnic group or another.
Tall grass, weeds, abandoned vehicles, trash piles, etc can lead to vermin…Do you want rats and other vermin in your neighborhood? I know I don’t.
Keep it up Andy…geez I love these things…
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