Stanford Code Enforcement gives seven-year anniversary report

Published 7:18 pm Tuesday, May 21, 2024

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It was seven years ago when Stanford Code Enforcement was created after the City Council adopted House Bill 422. 

A lot of work has been done around the city since then, according to Code Enforcement Officer Jeff Knouse. 

Knouse gave Stanford City Council members a report on that work during the regular April meeting. 

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“As of today there have been 1,511 paper violations that have gone out,” Knouse said. “60-something citations, which I think is really good considering the fact that there’s 1,500 violations.” 

That doesn’t include the numerous calls, emails and phone calls that have been made over the seven-year period, he said. 

“The longer we do it, the more contacts we get, the more phone numbers and emails we get and a lot of times I can handle that with a simple text message or phone call,” he said. 

The work seems to be getting easier and going more smoothly, Knouse said, with less controversy. 

“Since then, we’ve taken down, to date, 26 homes,” he said. 

Code Enforcement continues to work every day on “problem properties,” Knouse said. 

As far as the zoning part of the work, Knouse said it has increased as the city grows and develops. 

Knouse said while 26 homes have been demolished, in the last five years there have been 34 new home constructions and three remodels with three more remodels expected in the near future. 

“We continue to talk to developers and try to attract businesses and things like that and try to get them to come to our city,” he said.