{"id":27763,"date":"2025-07-25T14:57:33","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T18:57:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/?p=27763"},"modified":"2025-07-25T14:57:34","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T18:57:34","slug":"code-enforcement-continues-in-decatur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/25\/code-enforcement-continues-in-decatur\/","title":{"rendered":"Code enforcement continues in Decatur"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By BOB SHRALUKA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WZBD.com<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nearing the end of July, Decatur’s building and zoning department continues to battle unsightly situations around the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By mid-July, the department had sent out 176 abatement notices, an average of well over one per every weekday, according to department head Curt Witte.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those notices call for cleanups of high grass and other vegetation, junk in yards, dilapidated buildings, immobile vehicles and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
City officials continue to respond to complaints about high grass and vegetation on city properties. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As has been often said by Witte and Mayor Dan Rickord, the building\/zoning department doesn’t look for such situations; nearly all abatement notices are the result of complaints from neighbors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust remember, when you mow your yard, you are doing it for your neighbors,\u201d Rickord once said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following is City Code 920 2:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Height restrictions: Vegetation that grows beyond six inches in height is considered neglected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Noxious weeds: Specific plants like thistle and poison ivy are identified as noxious and are subject to removal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maintenance: Regular maintenance is required to prevent vegetation from becoming a nuisance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

33 TIMES: The latest code enforcement brought before the city’s board of works and safety involved a home on Schirmeyer St.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brad Roe, the department’s assistant superintendent, talked about the on-again, off-again situation at the home, with a cleanup followed by another return to high grass, junk, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the department has visited the home no less than 33 times in the past three years to take photos, including eight times this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The homeowner attended the meeting and told the board she has hired someone to assist her. She said she has a couple of jobs and a husband who is disabled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The woman was given more time to have the situation rectified.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By BOB SHRALUKA WZBD.com Nearing the end of July, Decatur’s building and zoning department continues to battle unsightly<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27764,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[14,15,21],"class_list":["post-27763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-decatur","tag-featured","tag-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Weeds.jpg?fit=590%2C444&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27763"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27765,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27763\/revisions\/27765"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}