Mountlake Terrace code compliance officer Laura Stevenson told the Planning Commission on Nov. 24 that the city has handled roughly 383 code cases since May, with about 261 closed and 122 still open, and that staff are shifting toward more education and outreach before formal enforcement. Stevenson said the city will keep cases open until associated building permits are fully finaled rather than closing them when a permit is issued but not completed.

Stevenson said the department has produced step-by-step workflows and instructional materials for residents and contractors and will run quarterly public training sessions and targeted social-media campaigns. She highlighted recent trends including reports of scammers targeting seniors posing as roofers and a rise in rodent complaints; staff posted tips in the city newsletter and on social platforms to alert residents.

"If I have one goal, it's to let people know that they need permits ahead of time," Stevenson said, describing a push to get information to homeowners before projects begin. Matthew Gisser, the city's building official, said staff plan coordinated outreach with permitting to improve public understanding of when permits are required and to reduce after-the-fact enforcement. "Instruction before correction is always where we're leaning," Gisser said.

Stevenson walked commissioners through examples of long-running, high-impact cases. One began with an animal infestation and unpermitted renovations and took about 16 months to resolve after multiple code cases; another required Superior Court action and court-ordered remediation, a process that staff said stretched 18–22 months. Staff said successful court outcomes depended on careful evidence collection and working with the city attorney to avoid using information obtained outside legally permissible methods.

Commissioners asked about specifics of enforcement including whether features shown in photos were on private property or the right-of-way and whether staff track historic conditions. Stevenson said staff use Google Earth Pro and satellite imagery to check whether surfaces such as gravel predate a 2006 code change and reiterated that staff are limited to observations made from the right-of-way or from property where permission to access has been granted.

Commissioners also raised concerns that recent zoning code updates that reduce allowable driveway width could interact with the prevalence of parking on unimproved surfaces and create practical problems for residents. Staff said that as middle-housing and other state-directed density measures are implemented, they will continue public education about legal parking locations and said they will monitor the effect of the education campaign before increasing enforcement. Staff indicated they typically initiate a code case for vehicles on lawns when three or more vehicles are present.

Next steps: staff will circulate educational materials, hold the planned public training sessions, run the outreach campaign on social media and provide additional data and case examples to the commission as requested.