ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
Spring has officially sprung, and part of the season will include lawn and property maintenance.
With that in mind, the City of Liberal has officially begun enforcement of its noxious weed ordinance, according to Code Enforcement Officer James Kulow.
“'Noxious weed' is considered basically any weed that grows in excess of 12 inches. April 1 is when we start giving out notices, and homeowners have five days from that date to get things cleaned up,” Kulow said. “The ordinance's exact wording says 'The owner, occupant or person in charge of any lot or piece of land and the parking in front thereof, and alleyways behind thereof, shall keep the lot or piece of land free and clear of all weeds and obnoxious vegetation growths and shall cut such weeds and obnoxious vegetation growths before the same blossoms or matures or attains a size sufficient to interfere in any manner with the health, convenience or pleasure of persons living near or adjacent to such premises or of persons using the streets, alleys or sidewalks and shall not permit the seeds therefrom to be scattered upon the same or adjacent property. The next part says how the Enforcement Officer shall notify in writing or by public notice, the owner, occupant or agent in charge of any premises in the city upon which weeds exist in violation of this ordinance. If the occupant or owner or agent in charge of any lot or piece of land shall fail or neglect or refuse to cut and remove any weeds or overgrown vegetation from such lots or pieces of land, or the parking in front thereof and alleyways behind thereof, within the city, after five days’ notice, or in cases where the owner is unknown or a nonresident and there is no resident owner, 10 days after notice has been published by the city clerk in the official city paper, the city shall provide for the cutting and removal of such weeds and overgrown vegetation from such lots, pieces or parcels of land and the parking in front thereof and alleyways behind thereof. Notice shall be given by certified mail, return receipt requested, by personal service, or conspicuously posted on the property if practicable. Only one such notice is required in any calendar year.”
Cutting and removal, when undertaken by the city pursuant to this section, shall be performed by the city or its authorized agent, including private persons or companies when designated to do so by the Enforcement Officer, the ordinance continues.
“Weeds and vegetation growths in excess of a height of 12 inches are hereby declared to be a nuisance and the city or its authorized agent shall forthwith, without notice, cut the same, the cost thereof to be collected as hereinafter provided in this article,” the ordinance noted. “The authority of the city to cut, destroy and/or remove weeds or obnoxious vegetation growth shall not extend to property zoned under the laws of the city for agricultural use, unless such weeds or obnoxious vegetation growth lies within 150 feet of any occupied residential structure other than a structure wherein resides the owner or lessee of the property upon which the subject weeds and obnoxious vegetation growth lie. The Enforcement Officer shall keep an accurate record of the costs of cutting and destruction and/or removal of the weeds and overgrown vegetation. Such record shall show costs incurred on each lot, piece or parcel of land. There shall be a minimum charge per each lot, piece or parcel of land for the first one hour, and thereafter a minimum charge per hour until completion. The Enforcement Officer shall mail a statement of cost to the last known address of the owner, occupant or agent in charge of such property. If such costs are not paid within 30 days from the mailing of such notice, a special assessment for such costs against the lot or piece of land shall be made and the city clerk shall certify such assessment to the county clerk for collection and payment to the city the same as other assessments and taxes are collected and paid to the city. Fees are established annually in the budget resolution. The Enforcement Officer is also expressly authorized to enter upon private property at all reasonable hours for the purpose of inspecting, cutting, destroying and/or removing such weeds in a manner not inconsistent with this article.”
For those who fail to comply with the ordinance, it could become costly.
“Failure of the property owners to take care of their property after receiving a notice will result in the City mowing and assessing a minimum $150 charge to the property owner – it's $150 for the first hour of work and then $40 each subsequent hour, if necessary,” Kulow said. “Anyone with questions about this ordinance is more than welcome to call us at (620) 626-2261. We publish a listing in the local paper about this enforcement happening so everyone knows what's going on, and the city code can be found online, so there's no reason for people not to know this is going on. We also know people take vacations and things like that, and there are people who do pretty well but then all of a sudden go out of compliance, so we take that into consideration and give them another notice, and we make sure to follow up. However, if you know you're going to be out of town, we do recommend mowing before you leave so you don't come back home to our notice on your door, or hire someone to mow while you're gone.”
Kulow said there will continue to be work done to spread the word about the ordinance’s enforcement for the next few months.
“We have put a notice in the local paper, and I know there was also an announcement put together for the City of Liberal social media pages, so it's definitely out there and people are more than welcome to take a look at all of that if they happen to not get the newspaper. And we have to put that notice in due to state statute,” Kulow said. “The main thing is just regular maintenance and making sure you're keeping up with mowing and trimming everything around your property. Spraying for weeds is also helpful and people can get that stuff at their hardware store. If you need someone to mow your lawn for you, we do have a list of contractors who can help, we work with them and they've taken on a lot of jobs throughout town and do a really good job. And if you hire them before we do, they don't cost $150.”
Kulow added there are a few problem areas the staff deals with during the spring and summer months.
“We do have quite a few problem areas we work in around this time of the year. North of 15th Street typically stays pretty good, but there are a few areas south of Pine Street like Nottingham Lane, Arlington Lane, among others. There are also some problem areas around Calhoun Avenue and Cain Avenue and around Roosevelt Avenue and Webster Avenue,” Kulow said. “We also work on quite a few properties around Sycamore Street and South New York Avenue, among many others. We're always pretty busy in those areas, and we expect to stay pretty busy as this summer goes on because this always swamps us and takes up the majority of our time. We're always busy with this stuff from April through September, and we've even mowed into November. We've only been enforcing this officially since April 1 and we've already handed out almost 30 notices to property owners. As soon as the moisture hits this area, it's almost kind of a race against the clock because weeds can get really tall really, really quickly.”
Kulow also offered encouragement for citizens to reach out to his office if necessary.
“Like I said earlier, if anyone has any questions, they can get in touch with us at (620) 626-2261, and we're happy to help. Or, if anyone has a complaint about a neighbor's property or another property in town, they can get in touch with us,” Kulow said. “And it's not just this ordinance, we also do environmental abatements and take care of other complaints with old junk cars or furniture just left out and about and things like that. And like I said earlier, anyone needing one is welcome to come to City Hall and get a list of city mowing contractors, and anyone can get that list. We encourage anyone, if there's a problem, to get in touch with us, and we'll do what we can to help out, because we can't do anything if we don't know about it.”
