ROCKLAND, Maine — The local code enforcement officer says he spends countless hours during the summer fielding complaints and trying to deal with abandoned properties overgrown with grass and weeds.
But John Root has reached the end of his patience with the owners and mortgage companies connected to these properties and has begun more rigidly enforcing a property maintenance code that the city has had in place for years. This year, the city began to cut the grass at some of these properties and to send bills to the owners.
If the bills are not paid, the city has the option to place a lien on the properties to ensure payment. The city also may begin seeking fines ranging from $100 to $2,500 per day for violations of the city’s property maintenance codes.
“It’s outrageous,” Root said of the way that properties are simply abandoned and no one will take responsibility for maintaining them.
He said the people who own the properties have given up maintaining them and when he contacts the mortgage holders — if he can reach them — they often say that they can’t do anything until a foreclosure is finalized.
And that Catch-22 is frustrating Root who begins receiving calls in early summer. In an August city manager’s report to the council, City Manager James Chaousis pointed out that the city’s two code officers have spent a considerable amount of time recently dealing with property complaints, including about overgrown grass.
The city’s code office has dealt with complaints about overgrown grass at 13 different properties so far this year. Root said that number is about average compared to recent years, but that his office has just run out of patience because of the amount of time it takes to deal with each complaint.
The city has had a property maintenance code ordinance since the 1980s that includes a restriction that grass and weeds cannot be allowed to grow more than 10 inches. The ordinance is in place because tall grass tends to harbor ticks and vermin.
Eric Conrad, director of communication and educational services for the Maine Municipal Association, said there is no cataloguing of which municipalities in Maine have property maintenance codes that deal with the height of grass. But, he said, anecdotally based on calls for legal advice from communities, he estimates 10 to 20 of the 491 Maine municipalities have such ordinances.
The reasons are often aesthetic, concern about negative impact on property values of adjacent properties, and health concerns, he said. One Maine Municipal Association staff attorney also believes there may be more interest in ordinances regulating grass height because of the increase in incidences of Lyme disease.
“Shorter grass is tougher on ticks,” Conrad said.
One community that is considering adopting a property maintenance code is Augusta.
Keith Luke, deputy director of development services for Augusta, said that the city is taking a two-pronged approach to dealing with abandoned properties and the problems they present.
One proposal before that City Council would require properties being abandoned be registered with the city so that the municipality can locate someone if a problem needs to be addressed.
And a city subcommittee is looking at the possibility of Augusta adopting a property maintenance code that could deal with things such as tall grass. Currently, the only time the city can take action on private property is when it creates an imminent public safety threat.
Luke said, however, that he knows how long it can take to track down someone responsible for abandoned properties.
“Someone can spend six fruitless hours trying to find someone whose property is going through foreclosure. Then trying to get a telephone number and the name of a person from a finance company is between gruesome and impossible,” he said.
In Rockland, one of the problem properties is not involved in a foreclosure but is a building and lot on Route 1 formerly owned by Tim Hortons. The restaurant property was acquired by Burger King’s owner in December. Root said he began responding to complaints about the overgrowth on that lot on July 9. He said he made repeated attempts to contact someone to cut the grass but was unsuccessful in getting anyone who was authorized to have the work done.
The Tim Hortons in Rockland opened in 2006 before closing in December 2013.
Eventually, he sent the owner a formal notice of violation on Aug. 6. The city then went ahead and had its mowing contractor cut the grass when there was no response.
Charlie Craig, who was the real estate contact person for the property, said he understands the frustration of city officials but that the mowing simply has been overlooked because of the huge transition involved in transferring ownership from Tim Hortons to Burger King. He said once the transition is complete, Burger King will be having the lawn mowed at the former Tim Hortons property on Camden Street.
Another long-term problem property has been a house lot on Rockland St. Citifinancial Inc., which held a mortgage on the property, obtained a foreclosure judgment against the owners in November 2010. But in September 2014, the company waived its foreclosure action even though the debt was not paid, according to documents filed in the Knox County Registry of Deeds. On Monday, Citifinancial issued a release of the mortgage to the owners.
Root said, however, that for the past several years, he has been unable to contact anyone who would maintain the house and its overgrown yard. The city ultimately had the lawn mowed within the past few weeks.
He said that further failure to maintain the properties will prompt him to seek fines. The city’s ordinance allows for fines from $100 to $2,500 per day for violation of the property maintenance code. But that would require the city to go to court, since only a judge could impose such fines.