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The challenge of cleaning up dilapidated and unsafe structures in Martinsville has become overgrown with challenges for city inspectors.

As of November, just two employees had performed more than 1,200 inspections since the beginning of 2019, Building Official and Zoning Administrator Kris Bridges said.

Part of this workload involves following up on two resolutions Martinsville City Council passed in September to address property maintenance concerns from citizens.

One resolution declared more than 20 houses, which City Attorney Eric Monday described as frequent flyers because of recurring complaints, to be public nuisances and ordered property owners to repair the problems. Council added many of the same properties to the rental inspection program at its meeting on Sept. 24.

Since September, Bridges said his office has been working steadily through the rental inspection and public nuisance lists, taking these about five at a time. The inspectors must have time to examine the property and reinspect it once work is completed. Property owners who are found in violation must be given due process and an opportunity to remedy the issue.

At their meeting, council members decided to spare several other houses from the initial lists because the owners seemed willing to work with the city to make repairs. These also require communication and follow-up from the inspectors to make sure the work is being done as planned.

City inspectors are responsible for investigating property maintenance complaints from local residents. These range from junk cars and trash in peoples yards to abandoned houses that are open to squatters and the elements.

Bridges also is working through a list of houses that the council approved for demolition this year because they have deteriorated to the point of being dangerous. The demolition program was had been de-emphasized for several years but was revived by City Council in 2018.

All this is on top of the departments normal workload of inspecting new construction, building repairs and renovations in the city. And there is more construction going on than people might think, Bridges said. If you talk to local contractors, he said, Everybodys busy.

With only himself and inspector Mark Price conducting more than 1,000 inspections a year, Its a balancing act, Bridges said. We do the best we can with the limited resources that we have to address the situations that we can. We do respond to every complaint.

But the city is limited in the problems that can be addressed by limited staffing, lack of money, the time required for the complaint process and what is legal to act on. Bridges said the code allows a D-minus thats barely passing. Well, barely passing is still passing.

When receiving property complaints, he said, We have to look at, are these the worst in the city? Just because it looks bad doesnt mean it rises to the level of a code violation.

Emphasizing safety

The most important concern for the inspections department is safety. They must emphasize situations that affect safety of the occupant and safety of the public in general, Bridges said.

In terms of danger, a building that is open and unsecure against public entry is pretty much the worst of the worst. People can go in and do things like squatting, using building materials as fuel for heat, or other illegal activities. Its a danger to kids who may not understand what unsafe looks like, he said.

The next most damaging issue is having an open, second-floor entry, such as a damaged roof that leaves the property open to the weather.

Theres nothing you can do to make a house go downhill faster than, one, to be vacant, and two, open to weather, where moisture and animals can get in. Those are the top things that make properties high on the list, Bridges said.

Other safety issues can include hoarding or living in a house without proper utilities. A dwelling must have a way to heat water for sanitation, have sources of natural light and ventilation, and provide heat in the winter. This heat source must be permanently installed, not a space heater, he added.

If you dont have electricity but still have gas, you might be using the stove or oven to heat your house, which is very unsafe, Bridges said. Theres no requirement for air conditioning in a single-family dwelling, but there is a requirement for heat. Even then, the legal minimum is 65 degrees during the day and 60 degrees at night.

Protecting renters

Safety was the intent behind Martinsville City Councils addition of 18 properties to the rental inspection list. Council first established the program in November 2018 following several reports of unsafe conditions in local rentals, including bricks that had been removed from a fireplace and a gas line improperly hooked up to a water heater.

Bridges intends for it to be a living list: As some places get cleaned up, others can be added.

Martinsville cannot afford to have a full-blown rental inspection program like some larger localities do, which would include all rental properties in the city, he said. Instead, this one consists of the ones we receive the most complaints about.

Were restricted in what we can charge to run the program, so it cannot be self-sustaining. Were not in a financial situation where we can take on additional responsibilities and tasks that are not cost-neutral, he said. So, we came up with resolution through council that identified specific houses instead of making a broad stroke.

In addition, a full rental inspection program negatively would impact the large number of very responsible landlords out there, Bridges said. We do not need to put regulations on people who are doing what theyre supposed to.

The department strives to work with property owners and give them a reasonable amount of time to make improvements. Several of them are being very cooperative about letting us come in and take a look, he said. We do understand that this is not their only responsibility every day.

Ultimately, inspectors want to work with property owners to repair a problem without resorting to fines or legal action, Bridges said.

The people that ignore us, thats where things escalate, he said. It doesnt do anybody any good to get them in front of a judge, because the money they wouldve spent on the house now goes to court fees and lawyers, and thats not our goal. Compliance is our goal.

The complaint process

Property maintenance violations are driven entirely by citizen complaints usually meaning that a resident calls the inspections department to report a problem in his or her neighborhood. Residents can reach the inspections department at 276-403-5174 or in room 217 on the second floor of the Municipal Building.

When a citizen complaint comes in, inspection staff add it to a master list and go out to inspect the property in person. The complainant must give their name and contact info, but this is not publicly accessible information, Bridges said.

We do not take anonymous complaints. Complainant information is protected, if theyre fearful of some kind of retribution, he said. But we also want to be able to get back with the complainant and let them know what the status is.

If no violation is found, we call the complainant and let them know its not quite to that level, he said.

For example, a backyard that cannot be seen from the street cannot be cited. If its something we have to take extraordinary effort to see, its a little bit beyond the interpretation of the Fourth Amendment, in the opinion of the city attorney. Were not saying its not an issue, just that legally we cant necessarily take action on it, Bridges said.

If a property maintenance violation is found, the city then works to notify the property owner through various means. This includes a notice posted on the door, mail, and in the newspaper.

We have to be fairly consistent in how we notify people. We dont have access to everybodys phone information, he said.

Bridges said he realizes some owners live out of town, but if its your house, youre responsible for keeping up with your house. If you cant do it physically because youre four hours away, you need to get someone to do it for you.

Depending on the type of violation, the time given to get into compliance could be three, seven, 10 days or more.

Complainants can use the citys online tracking system to look up by property and see where your complaint is in the process, Bridges said.

The webpage has a lag time of a day or two, but it does pull directly from the citys property maintenance complaint tracker. The system can be accessed at http://mud-va.org/pmview.php, or by visiting the citys homepage at http://www.martinsville-va.gov, clicking the residents tab, then selecting property maintenance from the menu.

Grass is a tall order

The majority of complaints the city receives deal with high grass. However, this goes beyond a homeowner who skipped mowing the lawn for a week or two.

We dont have a landscaping ordinance; we have a high grass and weeds ordinance. The majority of the yard has to be 10 inches high or more, Bridges said.

Again, the intent behind the ordinance is protecting public safety. Grass that high provides an environment for ticks, snakes or other animals to live, as well as hiding other hazards such as sinkholes, he said.

A groundhog infestation can be just as bad as a snake infestation, Bridges said, because of the digging and burrowing, and creating holes you dont see when you walk across the yard.

Grass can also be a fire hazard when you have extra fuel. Most grasses, when they get up above 10 inches, they start dying off. It doesnt take much to light off a brush fire, he said. Thats when things escalate from a minor problem to a big issue that affects multiple occupants and residences. Thats what were trying to prevent.

If the property owner does not cut the yard down to acceptable levels by the deadline, Bridges said his department refers the case to Public Works to mow it. When we turn it over to Public Works, theyre only going to knock [the grass] down. Theyre not going to make it look pretty, he said.

The owner will then be billed several hundred dollars as a discouragement to having the city be your lawnkeeping service. We dont want to be in the lawnkeeping service, Bridges said.

Demolition

The public nuisance and demolition lists are meant to give the inspections department more options to deal with the worst properties in the city. However, fixing up buildings or having them torn down takes time.

There are myriad opportunities to get these things taken care of, none of which are real fast, Bridges said.

In 2018, when council leaders revived the demolition program, Bridges presented a ranking of 50 or so buildings that had major structural failures or had otherwise deteriorated past the point of repair. As of September, inspections staff had started with a list of the top 13 houses, a complex process of notifying the owners, negotiating to have them repair or demolish it themselves if possible, looking at tax liens, and conducting asbestos surveys. When property owners are unable to fix or demolish the building, the city steps in.

Before the city pays to raze a building, we want to give everybody as much opportunity as we can to get it taken care of themselves, he said. If were having to tear something down, it should not be a fast process unless its an imminent danger to the public.

Budget is another issue. Projects range from $5,000 to up to $27,500 each, Bridges said. In this fiscal year, which began in July 2019, there is $15,000 allocated for demolition in the city budget, plus $10,000 in carryover funds from 2018.

Demolition is not cheap, he said. We dont have a big line item to tear things down.There are a lot of things that need to be addressed in order to do it right.

These include complying with regulations from the Department of Environmental Quality and properly disposing of materials containing asbestos in licensed landfills.

At the September council meeting, Bridges presented a list of the next 12 properties for demolition, but more money will need to be added to the budget before they can be addressed.

Kim Barto Meeks is a reporter for the Martinsville Bulletin. She can be reached at 276-638-8801.

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City of Martinsville's inspectors face hundreds of assignments each month in fighting blight and unsafe building conditions - Martinsville Bulletin