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Patrick Walsh takes a close look at the scene at 14101 Mintlaw Landing in Laurel, making note of the smashed mailbox, vandalized lights, notices posted on the door and the telltale sign of knee-high grass.
Like an experienced detective, Walsh, Laurel's code enforcement specialist, said the easiest way to identify vacated properties are the patches of weeds and clovers. At properties that are occupied and simply haven't been mowed, there is a degree of evenness, he said June 19.
The city issues citations for residents whose grass is over 8-inches, but with foreclosed properties, the city often has to cut the lawn.
Walsh said the city pays between $300 and $600 per lawn, which includes an administrative fee, paying the cutters and renting out equipment if the grass is too high for their mowers.
Complicating issues, the city might not recoup the money for weeks or months later due to difficulty tracking down the properties' owners.
Once Walsh notices high grass at a property, he gives the owners three days to cut the lawn before placing a notice and another three before issuing a fine. The city fines $100 for each initial offense and two hundred dollars $200 for each repeat offense.
Walsh said sometimes it takes several hours to search for an owner, and sometimes to no avail. He added if the city cannot find anyone who owns the house, then they will put a lien on the house.
"With the banks, we don't have many problems. With the mortgage companies, they're harder to deal with," he said, adding that mortgage companies are usually located out of state, don't have a maintenance department or return calls.
Parks Director Michael Lhotsky, whose department oversees the mowing, said the city would usually cut no more than 24 yards during an entire summer and so far this year 14 lawns have been cut at least five times and an additional three lawns have been cut once. Lawns are re-cut after growing over 8 inches.
"It's a service we would probably not prefer. It takes us away from doing other things," Lhotsky said.
Councilman Frederick Smalls (Ward 2) said the city and residents can stay on top of the problem.
"We rely on our public works, police and other city departments that travel around to report these kinds of occurrences, but we also have to rely on our citizens when there are situations like that," he said.
Smalls added that with the amount of rain recently, the city is lenient toward those who simply forgot to cut their grass or were on vacation.
E-mail Timmy Gelles at tgelles@gazette.net.
