Saratoga News

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City needs to be kept up to code, but what's code?

By Shannon Burkey

Saratogans like their city beautiful--it is, after all, the reason many of them moved here.

But what happens when one neighbor does something to make a neighborhood a little less beautiful?

"We receive numerous complaints from people about things their neighbors are doing," said city code compliance specialist Jana Rinaldi. "The most common complaints are on garbage cans, fences, barking dogs, RVs and boats."

Every day the city deals with phone calls and e-mails from people reporting a code violation by someone in their neighborhood. Whether it's leaving a garbage can out for too long or parking a boat or RV in a driveway for longer than the allotted time frame, the city staff is kept busy trying to keep Saratoga sparkling.

Lettie Snead, who has lived in Saratoga for 42 years, said she has noticed a lot of her neighbors don't seem to care about the look of the area.

"Some people just leave their garbage cans out at all times, and it just ruins the whole look of the area," she said. "Things like that bother me because I take great pride in my home and area, and it just doesn't seem right."

In the past few years, Snead said, the code violations around the city have gotten worse and, she thinks she knows why.

"A lot of new people are moving into the area, and I don't think they know what our codes are," she said. She suggested the city do more to notify new residents of its codes.

City manager Dave Anderson said it is difficult to know who is moving in and out of the city but that city staff is doing what it can to inform residents about their new city.

"We have no formal resident orientation," Anderson said. "But we hope one thing people do is go to our website and find our about their new community."

Two recent additions to the city's website are the new resident guide that gives an overview of the city and its services, and the community development guide that lets people know what's required of them when it comes to planning and building. Residents can also find a copy of the city codes on the website under municipal codes.

The fact that there are so many new residents in the city is not the only reason codes are being broken, Anderson said.

"Sometimes they are just not aware of what the code is," he said. "They've been doing it for so long and nobody has complained, so we haven't been able to educate them on it."

Saratoga is a complaint-driven city, so unless there is a complaint the city can't follow up.

"I try to help every single person with a complaint, because when somebody calls with a complaint, it's the most important thing to them. I may receive dozens a day, but for them that one is their focus," Rinaldi said.

Although the city tries to enforce the code violations it gets complaints on, Councilwoman Kathleen King said in some situations it is a difficult task.

"The council before us didn't put a lot of money or time into our city codes and ordinances," she said. "A lot of our ordinances are decades old."

The city is currently looking to update its sign and fence ordinance and create a blight ordinance. Each of these were brought to the city's attention after a complaint was filed.

"The problem is that so many are so outdated that it's hard to enforce them," King said. "To be able to enforce, you have to know you can go to court."

But whether it's enforceable or not, Snead said she just wants people to care about the pristine city they have decided to call home.

"I would just like it to look nice, the way it used to. Saratoga used to be a beautiful city where everybody took care of things, but the past couple of years it's just gotten worse and worse."