(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic City Council, this (Wednesday) evening, heard from an Atlantic resident with regard to junk – illegally parked vehicles, campers and utility trailers and tires – which says she said has “run amok in the City.” The woman acknowledged there is a process in-place to deal with issues such as those she described, and that it’s most likely a “Very tedious process to cite people for the ordinance violations,” junk related.

She asked the City to become more aggressive in dealing with personal vehicles, ATV trailers and so on, parked on the grass, in some cases for months at a time. She said she “Doesn’t want the City to run around and clean up just because 20,000 RAGBRAI ® riders are coming.” She said her concern is with the people who come to the City on a daily basis to shop, eat and visit persons in the hospital or nursing homes. She asked what type of impression the City is leaving with those people. “I want to make the best impression that we possibly can, so I would plead with you to be more aggressive because I feel our City is run amok with the amount of ordinance violations.”

Cole Loward (foreground) and Kris Erickson talk to the Atlantic City Council (3-2024) Ric Hanson photo

She said the City should get the word out that is not “going to be complacent with all these ordinance violations. It hurts our property values, it’s hurting out community.” Code Enforcement/Animal Control Officer Kris Erickson she has conducted several property inspections and Code Enforcement Office Cole Lowary, said they recently abated a property to the tune of $700, which was billed to the property owner. Erickson said she and Lowary, along with two Street Department employees, cleaned-up the property of person who refused to do so. “Most of what we’ve written-up lately, they’ve complied. So, we are seeing compliance with people,” even with the swings in the weather and temperatures.

Erickson said if they are notified of a potential ordinance violation, she and Lowary have five-days to investigate it. Each case is documented with photographs. If the complaint is deemed valid, then they must wait seven-days to see if the property owner takes care of the eyesore, under most circumstances. If the issue continues, the owner receives a notice of violation.  In that case, the problem area must be cleaned-up within two-weeks. The timeline is different for properties with a dangerous structure. Anything extreme that causes “Danger, stress [or] discomfort to the public, it is a nuisance. Those we deal with as quickly as we possibly can.”

If an abate is conducted (Property clean-up) by the City, the property owner has 30 days to pay the bill, or it will be assessed to their property taxes. Erickson said if a reported property violation is not visible from a City right-of-way, “we can’t write it up, because we cannot trespass. If we send a notice stating we are going to be there if they don’t, that is not trespassing,” because they were fully informed Code Enforcement was going to be there. “If a neighbor gives us permission to access their backyard to be able to see an issue they’re reporting, we can use the neighbors property. We cannot walk on their property to write-them-up, so if it cannot be seen by a street, alley or sidewalk, our hands are tied.”