Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Sweet Home Code Enforcement Officer Byron Wolfsong reported last week that the community is having a problem with abandoned vehicles and illegally parked cars.
“We’ve got two different things,” Wolfsong said. “One is people storing cars that are broken down or they just aren’t driving on the street.”
He is not talking about people who just park on the street or even leave their cars, he said. Rather, he is talking about cars on which tires are going flat, leaves are piling up around the car where the street sweeper can’t sweep or cars that are visibly disabled.
“The other one is people actually abandon vehicles either for junk or for sale, particularly along the highway on vacant lots,” he said. He pointed to the corner of 24th and Main streets as an example. Friday, there were three vehicles, a camper and a boat parked on the lot with “for sale” signs.
The lot is private property, Wolfsong said, and cars should not be parked on it without the property owner’s permission.
He said he got rid of eight or nine cars the week before, he said.
Complaints about vehicles stored in the public right-of-way can be directed either to Wolfsong or the police. Complaints about vehicles on private property should be directed to Wolfsong.
“Code enforcement is the primary source for getting this type of violation taken care of,” Police Chief Bob Burford said.
The city ordinance doesn’t allow cars to remain parked on the right-of-way for more than 48 hours without moving, Wolfsong said.
Just moving a car within the same block does not count as moving it either, he said, but he doesn’t enforce the ordinance that closely.
Typically, Wolfsong said, he keeps an eye out for signs that a car has been abandoned.
“I wait, and I look, and I go, ‘That car’s been there for two weeks,'” he said. At that point, he tags the vehicle.
The vehicle is tagged in a prominent place with a violation notice, Burford said. When the code enforcement officer or a police officer is called to the location of a possible abandoned vehicle, they must verify that the car has already been there for 48 hours.
Forty-eight hours after a car is tagged, it is subject to being towed, Burford said.
After 30 days, if no one claims the vehicle, it becomes the property of the tow company.
During the process, the vehicle owner is notified by letter about the procedure for claiming the vehicle, Burford said, or the vehicle owner can challenge the validity of the tow.
People have been pretty good about moving the vehicles at that point, Wolfsong said, but the number of cars that have become an issue has “been worse than at any point since I have been here (almost a year).”
The problem seems to have been growing in the past five months or so, he said. “I’m seeing more problems with the public right-of-way, but I’m told it picks up during the summer.”
So far this year, Sweet Home Police Department has towed five abandoned vehicles off public property, Burford said.
Police can also write tickets for the vehicle owner, Burford said, but they don’t want to do that and typically don’t.
To deal with the problem at 24th and Main, the property owner is planning to build a fence to block off the empty lot, Wolfsong said,.