Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Property Codes Enforcement topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Resident presses council on blighted lot; city says enforcement actions underway
Summary
A Kelly Lake resident raised concerns about a neighboring property where excavation and erosion are affecting his yard and a nearby lake. City staff said enforcement is underway, a retaining-wall permit was issued to the neighbor, and a citation had been issued earlier for tracked dirt on the roadway.
At the July 16 Hibbing City Council meeting, resident Mike Petrovnik told the council the property next to his Kelly Lake home has been excavated close to his fence, generating smell, visible blight and erosion into a nearby lake.
Petrovnik said he had "brought that, figuring that you guys could kinda see what, you can look at it for a minute," and that the condition was affecting his willingness to keep or sell his home. He asked council members for an update on cleanup and how long the property owner had to complete the work.
City staff and the mayor said the neighbor, referred to during the meeting as Mr. Lewis, had secured a retaining-wall permit from the city. City staff said they are reviewing a new approach to blight enforcement and will address Petrovnik's questions at a scheduled enforcement meeting; staff also said they would contact code enforcement officer Pat Green for any permit time-frame details Petrovnik requested.
City staff further reported that about two weeks earlier an officer received a complaint and issued a citation to Mr. Lewis for not cleaning dirt tracked onto the roadway; staff also noted a catch basin adjacent to the property that appears to be discharging silt into the lake after rain events. "If you were to go out there, you can see a cloud of silt coming from that property into the lake as well," Petrovnik told the council.
The council committed to follow up through the city's weekly enforcement meeting and to coordinate among code enforcement and engineering to get permit and time-frame answers. No formal council action was taken during the meeting beyond staff follow-up. Ending: Staff said they would raise the matter at the next enforcement meeting, notify Pat Green and engineering staff, and return with a time-frame and any enforcement steps taken.
