Cochise County adopts anti‑blight ordinance to centralize nuisance enforcement

The Cochise County Board of Supervisors adopted Ordinance 26‑11 on July 28, creating a single administrative framework for nuisance, blight and hazardous‑condition enforcement in unincorporated areas.

Development Services Director McLaughlin told the board the ordinance “consolidates those provisions into one consistent administrative process while improving efficiency and emphasizing education, communication, and voluntary compliance before formal enforcement occurs.” She said the draft added language to cover unauthorized obstructions in county roads and drainage ways, allowing those to be handled through the same administrative nuisance process rather than a separate enforcement framework.

Supervisors pressed staff on how the ordinance would address recurring problem properties. Supervisor Gomez asked whether the ordinance would help neighbors near a long‑running trash and drug problem, and McLaughlin said the measure makes it easier to identify a responsible party or treat an occupant as an interested party when owners are deceased or in probate. The ordinance also strengthens the County’s ability to recover taxpayer‑funded cleanup costs and preserves appeal rights to a hearing officer and, where authorized, to the Board of Supervisors.

The board approved the ordinance unanimously, 3–0. County staff said the ordinance does not create a property‑maintenance code, expand zoning rules, or change the county’s substantive enforcement authority; rather it standardizes procedures already available under Arizona law.