'We're really the eyes of the city': Blight enforcement ramping back up in Port Huron

One backyard off South Boulevard was still crowded with scrapped lawn equipment and other debris on Wednesday when two Port Huron officials arrived to check on a mandated cleanup.

A large dumpster sat along the grassy alley beside a tall wooden fence, which inspectors alleged the property owner put up more recently to cover the storage blight that first spurred violations. Everywhere sat something slated for removal — an abandoned camper, several lawnmowers with missing parts, an all-terrain vehicle, and an empty helium tank on a cart with an assortment of items.

Typically, Stacey Husson, senior code enforcement coordinator, said it would be a roughly 90-day process before the city contracted out such a cleanup itself.

But after the coronavirus shutdown last year, she and other officials said they’re still ramping blight inspection efforts back up.

“We didn’t do hearings, and we were even out of the office for several months,” Husson said, referring to the city’s administrative hearings bureau. “So, those who weren’t inclined to comply just had that much time. And the scrappers just scrapped that much more. We have five cleanups this week, and a lot of these have been ongoing since pre-COVID.”

The bureau, formed nearly eight years ago with the city’s current code enforcement program, allows residents to appeal cited blight issues through hearings twice a month. That’s also where a hearings officer would order a cleanup or instate fines for violations.

Open storage violations, such as those that may require cleanups, have been the most commonly cited by enforcement officials in the last few years, including during the pandemic when the number of tickets dropped overall.

According to the city, there were just over 2,000 tickets filed in 2019 and 1,500 in 2020. For 2021, that total had already reached 1,000 by June 7.

In an email Friday, Husson told city administrators code enforcement had taken 300 yards of "garbage" through city cleanups in the previous week. There were several more scheduled in the coming month.

Code inspector Don Egypt was already at the South Boulevard cleanup when Husson checked in with long-time inspector Pat Cogley Wednesday morning.

He said he first spotted the blighted property after they were asked to sweep alleys more than a year ago.

“You can see all this stuff he wants to keep that’s piled up. But none of its operable. It doesn’t work. It’s basically just garbage,” Egypt said. “… This is the kind of stuff we deal with every day.”

'We want compliance': Most blight tickets are dismissed

Landscaping, paint and property maintenance issues also make up the other more common sources for blight tickets in Port Huron.

Some residents took to social media this spring with complaints about inspectors and violations for those issues — something David Haynes, the city’s planning director, attributed partly to the change in season as the snow melted and issues became more visible.

However, some of it could also be attributed to renewed enforcement efforts, he said, after “there was more latitude given” during the pandemic.

Despite the thousands of citations each year, several officials were quick to emphasize how few of them result in fines — and that ticketing blight is not a money-making venture. In 2019, the city collected $21,697, and $22,955 in 2020. 

It wasn't clear why fine revenue was higher in 2020 when there were fewer tickets, though Finance Director Ed Brennan said in an email, "It could just be a lag from the time when the cleanup happens to when we receive payment."

“Ideally, we want compliance and for the property owner to resolve the issue, and I would say by and large that’s what happens,” Haynes said.

A Times Herald survey showed at least a third of 2020 tickets and well more than half of this year’s haven’t been dismissed. Those remain largely open, await an administrative hearing, payment of fines or a single lot assessment.

Although fines aren’t common, Haynes said a hearings officer has the authority to issue financial penalties up to $10,000.

“More likely, it’s in the $200 range, and that’s at his sole discretion. The administrative hearings bureau has the authority of circuit court,” he said.

Cogley said fines can be a tool to help benefit neighborhoods. 

“You start putting a $2,000, $3,000 fine on that, you get their attention,” Cogley said. “Most of those are cleared, and then, there’s maybe 2 or 3% that basically say … ‘I don’t care what you say. I’m not going to take care of it.’ And so, we’re stuck on that. As far as us, how we find those, we’re really the eyes of the city.”

Prior to 2013, blight enforcement was handled through the city’s planning department with one full-time inspector. Now, Cogley said there are two full-time inspectors and four part-time inspectors.

With formation of the hearings bureau, enforcement moved to the police department, which Haynes said streamlined the process and “really gave the homeowner the ability to go before someone” to communicate their needs.

Husson said that can mean giving residents with blighted properties access to grant funding or resources they may not have otherwise been aware of, adding, “Sometimes that enforcement, although it seems punitive, opens the door for conversation and opportunity.”

More tickets filed south of the Black River

Driving through Port Huron Wednesday, Cogley and Husson said challenges with blight can pop up citywide, from downtown business properties to the city's northern neighborhoods.

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But city officials added most blight violations are likely on Port Huron’s southside. Of the 1,000 tickets filed as of early June this year, more than two-thirds were at addresses south of the Black River.

Part of that could be the number of older homes or the amount of and transiency among rentals on the southside, officials said. Haynes said a small factor could be socio-economic, especially when residents disagree with code enforcement on rules as simple as grass height.

“Our expectations maybe (are different with) how we were brought up caring for our lawn and property. Every weekend, my dad sent me out to mow the lawn,” Haynes said. “Some people haven’t had homes, haven’t had a chance to own, they haven’t had that experience.”

Residents in local neighborhoods also have varying experiences in noticing blight and thoughts on the city’s response.

Nearby Wednesday’s cleanup, North Boulevard resident Charlie Frenz said he hadn’t noticed too much of an issue in his area after living in his home for a decade.

“I think most of it’s taken care of,” he said. “… The neighborhood’s nice. The people are nice.”

Meanwhile, Eric Noetzel, who was fixing up his home farther west on North with fresh paint Thursday, shared a different perspective.

He was aware of the South Boulevard cleanup, as well as a vacant corner house across from the neighborhood park, where Husson said parked bus drivers have reported drug activity.

“From our perspective, I own this house. We like to maintain it. That’s a rotten tooth right there. Perhaps, they need to work on some ordinances,” Noetzel said, nodding toward the other property.

The homeowner said he notices other, smaller issues, too, adding, “We don’t like piles of junk around people’s properties.” He said he has heard complaints about inspectors but that he supported the city’s program “to fight blight” overall.

Code enforcement officials said residents can be tense, upset or volatile about facing ticketed issues on their property. Cogley said there are times inspectors wear body cameras or require a police presence.

 Husson said it helps when people understand how things impact their neighbors.

“Where are mice and rodents going to go when they’re looking for a home? In that camper. Then, they’re at the neighbors, you know?” she said at the South Boulevard cleanup. “… They don’t necessarily see a problem with the way the situation is.”

In contrast, code enforcement officials were working with residents at another cleanup on Tunnel Street Wednesday. Husson pulled family members aside to discuss how the cleanup would be assessed, costing likely upwards of $3,000.

“This whole front yard was full of stuff,” said Cogley. There on Tunnel, crews were also clearing the long backyard of open storage scrap.

“Imagine talking like a whole half a block of stuff,” Cogley said. “It was like a maze to get through here.”

Resident Denny Parmann talked about working with the city to clear the front yard.

Although he called the discovery of blight issues in the back some “kind of a miscommunication,” he said he understood how his family could benefit from the city’s cleanup. Most of the things stored outside belonged to his late father, “an avid collector of things for many years,” but they remained long after his death.

“Every Sunday morning your dad smoked a nasty smelling cigar. Now, it’s not there anymore. Bittersweet, right?” Parmann said. “This is great. But on the other hand, it was his stuff.”

Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Jackie20Smith.