Minutes - Council - 08/27/2024 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Planning Manager Larson shared that there have been a lot of things that have come through the Code Enforcement process where they have not made people tear down things and then get permission to rebuild them. He said the neighbor is going through the due process of getting the permits needed. Councilmember Musgrove noted that while the neighbor is in the process of getting his permits, Mr. Teten has had to go to the County, the Police Department, the City, and back and forth to all of them while the neighbor who is violating Code has had his violation suspended. She said she does not understand why they are not requiring the neighbor to take his fence down and require him to get a survey before putting the fence back up. She added that she would be in favor of amending the Code to require permitting for fences. Councilmember Woestehoff noted that the home occupation permit is separate from the fence issue. He said that punishing a resident for a fence that is unrelated to an application does not seem to be fair. Councilmember Musgrove shared that the Code violation is separate so they can impose it while he works on his home occupation application. Mr. Tetens explained that he shared the survey report with his neighbor that showed exactly where the property lines are, and his neighbor ignored this and put the fence up anyway. Councilmember Woestehoff asked if the City has a remedy to enforce this violation. City Attorney Knaak said they could criminally cite this property owner. He shared that there would have to be proof beyond a reasonable doubt in order to cite him criminally. Planning Manager Larson shared that the City would have to come up with the proof and they do not have access to the defendant's property to do a survey as all City enforcement actions have to occur from the public right-of-way. He said Staff does not have the ability to gather the proof needed to bring against enforcement actions about the property owner. He added that this could be remedied more easily between the two property owners. Councilmember Specht said he does not understand how they can enforce structures like lean-tos when they are too close to a property line, but they cannot enforce fencing when it is over a property line. Community Development Director Hanson shared that with the recent issue they had with a lean- to, they were able to see this issue from the public right-of-way, which is why they were able to enforce it. Mr. Tetens added that he has invited Staff to come out to his property at least four times via email to take a look at the fence being over his property line and no one ever responded to his emails. He shared that he also sent Staff two different survey reports depicting the fence and the lot lines. City Council/August 27, 2024 Page 4 of 13