College Station City Council Discusses Hoarding and Other Code Enforcement Violations

Slide from the code enforcement presentation during the June 22, 2023 College Station city council meeting.
Slide from the code enforcement presentation during the June 22, 2023 College Station city council meeting.

The College Station city council received an update on code enforcement efforts at the June 22nd meeting.

Tommy Shilling, Code Enforcement Supervisor, provided picture examples of different violations and how they had been resolved. An example of hoarding showed an enclosed backyard of someone whose neighbor complained to the city.

Slide from Tommy Shilling’s code enforcement presentation to CS City Council

This drew questions from Councilwoman Elizabeth Cunha.

“It looked like it was a backyard behind a privacy fence. So you can’t store things even if your backyard has a privacy fence because you neighbor might look over the fence and into your yard?” questioned Cunha.

Shilling says they can enforce anything from the public right of way.

“The neighbor to the right of this address allowed us onto her property to take photos,” says Shilling.

Mayor John Nichols brought up public health and safety, which Shilling agreed with.

“This could be health and safety. It’s not simply accumulation of trash in a front yard or a couch on a roof. It’s public health issues,” says Nichols.

Councilman Dennis Maloney agreed with the health and safety point.

“I understand that completely because I had a neighbor, he accumulated a lot of stuff. When they got tired of living there, the rats came over to my house and I pulled 18 of them out of my house, so I’m happy to see you look after that,” said Maloney.

Shilling encouraged residents to use the See Click Fix website or app to report code enforcement violations and other non-emergency items.

Click below to hear Tommy Shilling’s Code Enforcement Presentation to the College Station City Council:

More News