Highland Park code officer: unpaid vacant-property tickets are escalated to nuisance abatement after repeated noncompliance
Loading...
Summary
Officer Najee Malone said owners who ignore vacant-property registration and repeated tickets typically see cases move from building-department notices to nuisance-abatement actions pursued by the city attorney; he cited multiple recent large-ticket counts and said demolition is sometimes the final outcome for irreparable structures.
Officer Najee Malone, Highland Park’s code enforcement officer, said the city starts enforcement of vacant properties when the building department issues a registration notice and the owner fails to respond. "If you own a building on Hamilton... they'll send you a letter that basically says, hey. You're in violation of the vacant-property registration ordinance," Malone said, describing typical 14–30 day timelines for owners to register.
Malone said cases that do not respond to registration or correct violations are referred to code enforcement, then to the city attorney for nuisance abatement and a court order. "Usually after the third offense... we're moving this to nuisance abatement," he said. He described a city policy change that converted many misdemeanor offenses into civil infractions to avoid criminal records for common property code violations.
Malone gave enforcement-volume context: he said he wrote 933 tickets in a recent 12‑month span and shared historical figures of 707 (2022–23) and 1,332 (2023–24), noting low court-appearance rates. He said property owners sometimes lose control of large buildings after court action; citing Highland Towers, Malone said the private owner lost the building after litigation and the city later considered demolition because restoration costs would far exceed tear-down costs.
Malone said the city is experimenting with administrative processes to speed results and advised owners to respond promptly to building-department letters. When owners demonstrate effort — shoveling snow, mowing grass or registering properties — Malone said officers will often work with them and may dismiss tickets; if owners ignore notices, the city has a range of enforcement tools.
The next procedural step for problem properties typically involves referral to the attorney’s office for nuisance-abatement filings and court-directed remedies. Malone encouraged residents with legal- or tax-roll questions to contact the city attorney or the building department for clarifications.
