PETOSKEY — Since January, Petoskey’s code enforcement officer has reported 322 violations ranging from grass height to disabled vehicles.

City Manager Shane Horn provided code enforcement statistics to the Petoskey City Council at its meeting Monday.

Signs had by far the highest number of violations with 122. This was followed by miscellaneous – which can include a wide variety of issues like noise and complaints about animals or illegal camping – with 59 violations, then violations weed-related with 51. Other categories include ordinances involving trash, short-term rentals, trailers, permits and more.

“It continues to play out the same way,” Horn said. “Sign violations are the number one code problem we face. Then miscellaneous is kind of a catch-all, but it involves a lot of different things.

Horn said he plans to return to the council later with a possible camping ordinance.

“You may have witnessed or received complaints about illegal camping along the bay,” he said. “When I arrived this morning at 7:30 a.m., there was a camper van with the blinds down. We’ve seen this a lot this summer, so we’re going to come back to the City Council and address this issue with some ordinances.

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Mayor John Murphy applauded the work that has been done to enforce the code and thanked council for its support in hiring an officer for the position.

“I think it’s really nice, it lets people know we have things we’re working on at all times,” he said. “I think when citizens are complaining about the government, it’s a great example of something that was started about two years ago, people wanting to enforce the code and complaining about everything you see here , disabled vehicles, permits, sign violations, etc.”

Horn added that he was initially concerned that there wouldn’t be enough work for the code enforcement officer, “but obviously, as you can see, we’re busy with opportunities to resolve blight and property maintenance code issues.”

Horn also noted the increase in collaboration between the city and Emmet County to address these issues.

“I just appreciate the opportunity to collaborate, and when we see something, we contact them and vice versa,” he said. “I think for the first time in maybe a long time, we’re really developing a good collaborative relationship where we’re looking to hold landowners appropriately accountable for deficiencies, and then combining our efforts, I think that makes us stronger if we need it. to take the next step in court.

For more information on city code enforcement, visit petoskey.us/services/public_safety/code_enforcement/index.php.

— Contact Jillian Fellows at [email protected].

This article was originally published in The Petoskey News-Review: Petoskey reports more than 300 code enforcement violations so far in 2024