Resident urges stricter code enforcement in Roselawn over tall grass, junk vehicles and home occupations

A City of Orange resident urged the council on July 22 to step up enforcement of existing city ordinances in the Roselawn neighborhood, citing tall grass, inoperable vehicles and unpermitted home occupations as widespread problems. The nut graf: In the citizen-comment portion of the meeting, Bob Manning — who also identified himself as chair of the Historic Preservation Commission — described numerous code violations in Roselawn and asked the city to respond; he said enforcement lapses are harming property values and contributing to crime concerns in portions of the neighborhood. Manning said he had emailed council members and the city manager on July 8 but that some recipients did not receive his message. He presented a checklist of commonly enforced ordinances and said grass and weeds should not exceed 12 inches under the city's code as published on the city website. "In some neighborhoods, Roselawn comes to mind, is more the norm than the exception for people to allow their grass to grow in excess of 12 inches," Manning said. He said one Bowen Lane location had high grass and four unmounted tires visible from the street and that he observed multiple properties with inoperable vehicles and other code violations. Manning said the condition of Roselawn has made it harder for him to rent and sell houses he owns there and raised concerns about crime in the area. He asked the council to "help me with this" and for staff to review the properties he flagged. City staff acknowledged the comment and asked Manning to resend his email. Ending: The record shows the citizen complaint was logged and staff invited the resident to resend documentation; the council made no formal motion or directive recorded in the meeting minutes to start an enforcement sweep that evening.