Code Busters

HARLINGEN - Businesses with damaged signs or overgrown weeds will be the target of a city code enforcement sweep.

The initiative to clean up the city's commercial corridors stemmed from the Harlingen 100 Plan that Mayor Chris Boswell put in place shortly after taking office, Paul Menzies, director of planning and development, said Wednesday.

"It was a clear message in the Harlingen 100 Plan that Harlingen doesn't ‘show' as well as it could," Menzies said. "Hence, more emphasis has been placed on code enforcement and more importantly, the City Commission has provided the resources."

Menzies said the code enforcement sweep is mainly for commercial areas, but code enforcement officers will monitor residential areas.

The city started its code enforcement efforts on Ed Carey Drive and is now concentrating on Tyler and Harrison Avenues, Menzies said. The efforts will then move to F Street, 77 Sunshine Strip and Commerce Street.

Code enforcement officers will look for portable signs with changeable letters and arrows pointing to the businesses, which Menzies said are illegal if they are not properly anchored to the ground, don't have proper electrical connections, are within the street's right of way or exceed the allowed sign size.

They will also look for damaged signs that have broken faces or are illegible and signs that advertise businesses that are no longer in operation, Menzies added.

Code enforcement officers will also look for illegal dumping, junked vehicles and high grass and weeds, he said.

The Harlingen 100 Image Committee, which has the task of coming up with ideas to improve the city's appearance, is also helping in this effort, Ruthie Ewers, committee chairwoman, said Wednesday.

"We're coming up with a signage ordinance," Ewers said Wednesday. "(The committee) will not be able to enforce anything. We can just make suggestions."

Ewers said committee members have driven around the city and photographed signs they would like to see repaired or removed from the city's commercial corridors.

"We're not trying to make it hard on business owners but they have a responsibility too," Ewers said. "Some of the signs out there are just horrible - they're filthy and they're falling apart."

"That sends a message that people are lazy and they don't want to clean up their businesses," Ewers added.

The Image Committee is also trying to come up with ideas to help businesses pay for their clean up efforts, Ewers said.

Menzies said there has been good compliance from property owners so far because the city is notifying them of violations.

When there is a code enforcement violation, Menzies said, officers give property owners a written notice and 10 days to bring the location into compliance.

If a property owner does not comply with city ordinances within the 10 days, Menzies said, the city can issue a separate citation for each day that the site remains in violation.

In those cases property owners must go through the municipal court and pay the fines stipulated by a judge as well as remedy the violation.

Menzies said that city ordinance states that these types of violations could carry a maximum fine of $2,000.