7/12/2005
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Mayor praises council vote on measure to increase code enforcement in excluded cities
New ordinance allows police officers in five cities and towns in Marion County to enforce the zoning code, stepping up enforcement at no extra cost to the city
INDIANAPOLIS - Mayor Bart Peterson today praised the City-County Council for last night’s vote to approve an ordinance that grants police officers in five cities and towns in Marion County the authority to enforce the zoning code within their respective jurisdictions. This measure will allow for stepped up code enforcement at no cost to the City of Indianapolis.
After the ordinance is signed into law, police officers in Speedway, Lawrence, Beech Grove and Southport - four jurisdictions that were excluded from the city/county consolidation during Uni-Gov - will be able to address code violations including illegal signs, abandoned vehicles on private property, outdoor storage of junk and trash, and the parking of heavy commercial vehicles in neighborhoods. In addition, police from the Town of Cumberland, which is located along the border between Marion and Hancock counties, will have code enforcement capabilities.
Prior to last night’s vote, local laws only allowed law enforcement officers on the Indianapolis Police Department and the Marion County Sheriff’s Department to enforce the zoning code, along with inspectors from the city’s Department of Metropolitan Development (DMD).
"I appreciate the council’s support of this common-sense measure that allows for increased code enforcement in neighborhoods within these cities and towns in Marion County," said Mayor Peterson. "It is well known that problem properties and neighborhood blight go hand-in-hand with increased criminal activity, so it makes sense for officers of all major law enforcement agencies in the county to have the ability to enforce the zoning code."
The Mayor said that code inspectors in DMD and the Marion County Health Department will remain the central enforcement arm for Indianapolis’ health and zoning codes, but the change gives the excluded cities and towns the option to utilize law enforcement resources to tackle code violations where they see appropriate.
Over the last several months, community leaders in some of the excluded cities had approached Indianapolis city officials and members of the City-County Council about the possible ordinance change.
Stepped up code enforcement in neighborhoods has been a major focus of the Peterson administration. Since 2000, the city has bolstered code enforcement efforts with more inspectors and better technology; launched an aggressive program in cooperation with county health officials to clean up problem properties and bill owners for the costs; closed down and demolished the crime-ridden Citizen’s Lodge Motel; cracked down on negligent property owners with multiple code violations; shut down lingerie stores that were operating as illegal adult entertainment businesses; and began enforcing a new ordinance that limits the hours of adult bookstores and places other restrictions on their operation.
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