QuickTake:

The city is looking at seven properties that have broken-down vehicles, repeat building violations, overflowing trash, and other violations. The City Council directed staff to move ahead with the process for a nuisance lien, a legal claim the city places on a property that is typically collected when a property is sold.

Springfield City Council on Oct. 13 discussed using nuisance liens to collect outstanding court fines related to civil code violations at seven Springfield properties.

The properties have more than $355,000 in Municipal Court-ordered fines that remain unpaid despite collection efforts, code enforcement officer Charlie Kent told councilors. The fines originated from Municipal Court proceedings where property owners were found in violation of city code and assessed monetary penalties by the court.

“These aren’t minor violations,” Kent said. “These are chronic nuisance properties that seriously impact the community.”

According to a memo to the City Council, the violations include issues such as people living in recreational vehicles on vacant lots with garbage spilling onto adjacent properties; obstruction of ADA access with moving containers; repeat dangerous building violations; inoperable vehicles; trash thrown into neighboring yards; residential use of undeveloped property; operating a business without land-use approval; and industrial vehicles stored on residential lots.

“Their neighbors are continuing to suffer the impacts and compliant property owners rightfully question why these property owners really face no real consequences,” Kent said.

A nuisance lien is a final enforcement tool to ensure compliance with court orders and recover funds owed to the city.  Kent said the nuisance lien program is also about equity. 

“These seven property owners have accumulated a large amount of fines, while their neighbors do the right thing and invest in their property,” he said. “And so, without this effective collection mechanism, our code compliance system really loses our credibility here.”

A nuisance lien attaches to a property and is valid for up to 10 years. The debt is commonly collected when a property is sold or refinanced.

Nuisance liens are different from abatement liens in that abatement liens recover costs that the city incurs through physically abating nuisance violations. He said these properties are not a good fit for abatement for various reasons, including that it would be too expensive or violations are hard to access.

He said the Springfield Municipal Code establishes a process that protects property owner rights when imposing such liens. The city notifies the property owners that the debt from the unpaid court fines will become a lien on the property if payment isn’t made within 30 days. The property owners have the opportunity to object in writing or at a City Council hearing that will be scheduled on the issue. Then the council votes whether to approve placing the lien on the property.

“I want to emphasize the extent of due process built into this,” Kent said. “Compliance staff or people with the city aren’t able to impose these liens unilaterally.”

He also said that the ultimate goal is code compliance, and the city will reduce the fines if the property owners are able to come into compliance.

Both Councilor Kori Rodley and Mayor Sean VanGordon said nuisance properties are one of the issues they hear about the most from constituents.

“I’m probably not alone with my colleagues up here,” Rodley said. “This is one of the things that I get the most people showing up on my doorstep about.” 

VanGordon directed city staff to move forward with a public hearing on the nuisance liens.