Petoskey reports more than 300 code enforcement violations so far in 2024

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

City Manager Shane Horn provided code enforcement statistics to the Petoskey City Council during Monday’s meeting.

By far, signs had the most violations with 122. This was followed by miscellaneous – which could include a wide variety of issues such as noise and animal complaints or illegal camping – with 59 violations, and then grass violations with 51. Other categories include ordinances involving litter, short-term rentals, trailers, licenses, and more.

“This continues to follow in much the same way,” Horn said. “Sign violations are our number one code issue we face. Then the miscellaneous is kind of exciting, but it involves a lot of different things.”

Horn said he plans to come back to the council later with a potential camping ordinance.

“We may have experienced or received some complaints about illegal camping along the bay,” he said. “When I arrived this morning at 7:30am, there was a van with the blinds down. We’ve seen that many times this summer, so we’re going to go back to the city council and address it with some ordinances.”

Subscribe: Check out our offers and access the local news that matters to you

Mayor John Murphy applauded the work being done in code enforcement and thanked the council for its support in hiring an officer for that position.

“I think this is really nice, it lets people know that we have things we’re working on at any given time,” he said. “I think sometimes when citizens complain about government, this is a prime example of something that was initiated about two years ago, people wanting code enforcement and complaining about everything you see here from disabled vehicles, licensing, trademark 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 address property maintenance code issues.”

Horn also noted the increased collaboration between the city and Emmet County in addressing these issues.

“I just appreciate the opportunity to collaborate, and when we see something, we’ll reach out to them and vice versa,” he said. “I think for the first time in a long time we’re really developing a good collaborative relationship where we’re looking to hold property owners properly accountable for deficiencies and then combining our efforts, I think that makes us stronger if we need to. 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 originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Petoskey reports more than 300 code enforcement violations so far in 2024