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Susan Voyles Washoe County commission Tuesday will review a long-awaited nuisance ordinance that could limit the number of junk cars on properties and create new limits on how close off-road vehicles may be driven near homes. The ordinance also adds as nuisances tall weeds, overgrown plants, trespassing at foreclosed properties and buildings used by criminal street gangs. They also were defined as nuisances in laws approved by the Nevada Legislature this year.
The ordinance follows one approved two weeks ago that makes nuisances a civil rather than criminal offense, trying to resolve cases quickly and without jail time.
The county ordinance applies only in the areas outside Reno and Sparks boundaries, except for animal-control regulations.
In 11 years with the county, planning manager Bob Webb said the courts have ordered an abatement for a property only once, in March when 45 junk were removed from two mobile home lots in Sun Valley. The owner was billed for the cost.
As a result of that cleanup, nearby property owners have hauled off old junkers and other rubbish, said Susan Severt, a Sun Valley community leader. She said the number of police calls over drugs and stolen cars in that area also has declined.
Webb said he subscribes to the “broken window” theory. As minor crimes and nuisances are dealt with, the number of major crimes in that area also decline.
A citizens committee worked on the two ordinances in 37 meetings over 2½ years, with most members saying they are happy with the result.
Spanish Springs resident Lois Kolbet said the committee made the county puts its money where its mouth is. If the intent is to get complaints resolved, then no fines should be issued if offending residents comply.
The companion ordinance gives residents up to 50 days to take care of a nuisance ranging from a barking dog, tall dead weeds or junk cars before being fined.
“We not only got to read it, we got to change it,” Kolbet said. “It was a beautiful example of democracy at work in the county.”
About 96 percent of people take care of a problem when given a notice, requiring no further action, officials said. In the year that ended June 30, the county received about 354 land and zoning complaints, 120 involving inoperable vehicles.
The county planning staff recommends only two junk vehicles be allowed per household and must be behind a fence.
The citizens group wants properties larger than an acre to have an additional vehicle per acre, with a limit of 50 vehicles.
Current county code puts no limit on the number of junk cars if they are screened from view from the front of the property.
The sheriff’s office and planning staff recommend the vehicles stay at least 1,000 feet from homes. The citizens group was split: Half supported that 1,000-feet limit while half supports the 5,000-feet limit. The current limit is 500 feet.
Commissioners could create routes for people to get back and forth to riding areas and put up signs along the route asking riders to keep down the noise until they get to the open lands. Several committee members said they wanted to define nuisances for their own areas. Jane Countryman of Washoe Valley said the areas of the county are so different that all nuisances don’t fit.
“It’s like trying to put a square peg in a round hole,” she said.
Deputy District Attorney Blaine Cartlidge said different nuisances for different parts of the county wouldn’t hold up under “equal protection of the law” constitutional requirements.
But two exceptions were made. The Incline Village and Crystal Bay area can recommend their own nuisance laws because the alpine community is governed by Tahoe regional planning laws.
And changes were made for areas considered rural under the nuisance code. In those, tractors and other farm equipment are not considered junk vehicles or subject to the two-vehicle rule. Grading of land involved in farming is not considered a grading nuisance.
And noisy or wandering animals are not considered a nuisance in farm areas. -- Source: http://www.rgj.com/article/20090920/NEWS/90920019/1321 |
