City staff outline drainage, vacant-property and dumping work; code enforcement cites several active cases

Seat Pleasant — City code enforcement and environmental/public works staff outlined ongoing efforts to address drainage problems, bulk dumping, vacant properties and related neighborhood maintenance during the April 7 work session.

Code enforcement reported issuing 49 notices of violation in March, stickered and impounded vehicles, and two stop-work orders. The office said bulk-dumping incidents remain a major problem and described at least one case in which a resident’s privately installed camera led to identifying a dumping vehicle. “A lot of the bulk trash…it’s been an issue, like people putting out things on the wrong day,” the code officer said; staff are handing out education materials about pickup days and the pickup process.

The city’s code officer reported identifying four previously unknown vacant properties and said the properties subsequently registered with the city. The officer also said courts have ordered abatements; for one commercial property on a main thoroughfare the judge gave a deadline of April 19 to remove debris and register the property as vacant.

Public works and environmental justice staff described repeated storm events and ongoing stormwater work. Department staff said crews have been clearing debris, checking drains and coordinating with contractors on a multi-phase French-drain project in the valley off Capone and on drainage cleanup in Goodwin Park. “Goodwin Park do got flooding issues. I’m working with a couple of the contractors to get some site work done so we can know how to, see what's going on and see how we can properly make the storm water drain properly,” a DPW representative said.

Staff said many drains are maintained by outside entities including WSSC and that some interim fixes will be followed by longer-term geotechnical and topographic studies for any larger capital work. Code enforcement also flagged a pattern of residents placing cones and materials in public street parking that raise safety and access concerns, and staff said they would coordinate enforcement responses with the police department.

Ending

Officials said the drainage and remediation work is multi-phased and will require coordination with county and state agencies; staff will return with timelines and budget implications as projects move from cleanup to engineering and capital planning.