Do you live next door to a house with dozens of cars and car parts? Does it appear there are squatters that have moved into a foreclosed house in your neighborhood? Do you have a party house down the street that concerns you? Are their rats digging through the mounting pile of trash at the house you pass by daily? Does the neighbor’s rooster wake you in the morning before the alarm clock? Is that shed the neighbor built up to code? Is that home business allowed in your neighborhood?
What can you do? It depends which part of the Bonney Lake plateau you live in. If you are within the city limits of Bonney Lake, code violations are dealt with by the city’s Code Enforcement Officer. View the Code Enforcement website for more information.
To file a complaint, please submit a Request for Action form to the city by mail (P.O. Box 7380) or in person at city offices.
If you need further assistance, please call the city’s main phone at 253-862-8602.
It is critical that the Request for Action form include the following information:
• The property address at which the code infraction(s) is/are occurring; and
• A brief description of the possible infraction.
When speaking with staff or leaving a message, please provide your name, address and phone number, as well as the address/location and nature of the complaint.
The Request for Action form serves as a formal request for action by city staff. All complaints will be investigated and those determined to be in violation of Bonney Lake Municipal Code will be processed accordingly.
Before you report (or receive) an infraction, you can read the municipal code to see what the code is. Here are some chapters pertaining to frequent complaints.
BLMC Chapter 8.12 – Public Nuisance Vehicles
BLMC Chapter 9.07 – Public Disturbance Noises, which are handled by the Police Department. To file a complaint, please call Police Dispatch at 253-841-5538.
BLMC Chapter 8.08 – Litter and Rubbish and Chapter 8.20 – Public Nuisances
BLMC Chapter 15.28 – Signs
BLMC 6.04.130-135 – Livestock and poultry
BLMC 18.22.060 – Raising and grazing of livestock and poultry
BLMC Chapter 8.20 – Public Nuisances
If you are outside the city limits, you can go on the Pierce County Responds website to report a problem or mail a written complaint to Pierce County Responds, 2702 S 42nd St, Ste. 201, Tacoma, WA 98409-7322 or call 253-798-4636. Pierce County Responds is an award winning program that receives and investigates complaints, provides technical assistance to property owners and organizes community-based solutions for code enforcement. Serving the county since 2002, it is a partnership of the Pierce County Planning and Land Services Department, Pierce County Sheriff, Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney and Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
Their most common complaints are:
• Occupied RVs
• Junk vehicles
• Illegal businesses
• Building without permits
• Accumulation of trash on private property
• Illegal dumping in the county right of way
They only accept reports of code violations in unincorporated Pierce County. A visit to their website will provide links for your research, such as who owns the property to land use regulations. Like the city website, they suggest you do your homework before submitting a complaint, or make sure you are in compliance.
The county offers the Community Assistance and Public Education (CAPE) program, which was created to assist communities with neighborhood cleanups. Litter credits and junk vehicle affidavits can help clean up properties. Community members take responsibility for the cleanup and Pierce County Responds staff coordinates the assistance.
A litter credit waives landfill disposal fees up to $125 for community cleanups and victims of illegal dumping. You must meet certain criteria to be eligible.
Pierce County Responds has many resources available for county residents who want to get rid of or report public nuisance vehicles including removal of non-junk vehicles, towing costs, replacing lost vehicle titles, and junk vehicle affidavits.
Whether you are in the city or county, if you believe there is criminal activity, call 911.
So how should you approach this after you have done your research, contacted the property owner, got no resolution, and have contacted coded enforcement or law enforcement? How far are you willing to go to improve the safety of your neighborhood as well as your property values? During the recent Great Recession, many homes stood empty due to foreclosure. These usually cease to have the lawn mowed and sometimes become an attractive nuisance to vandals or squatters.
If the squatters move into the house, banks are required by law to consider the squatters as “residents” and subject to “tenant” rights. They basically have to be evicted. If the squatters are gone, the banks are much more responsive toward the cleanup and securing the property.
So what did one local homeowners association (HOA) do? They empowered their community by resorting to some rather simple, brave, and uncommon tactics to remove the squatters that was a real benefit to the bank who owned the foreclosed home.
They circled the house after dark when the nightly party was really getting started. They aimed their cars at the house from the street, without going on the property, and simply turned on their high beam headlights. HOA members were encouraged to stop by any time during the night and shine their headlights or flash lights or flood light on what should be a vacant house, not a party house with broken windows and garbage stacking up.
This tactic was used a couple of nights in a row. The second night there was far fewer partiers in the foreclosed home. In fact, they began moving out, and told the HOA through the Pierce County Sheriff they would be out by noon tomorrow. Basically they were gone in three days.
The HOA also began taking pictures of cars in the driveway during daylight hours, and the people coming and going began to dwindle. The light show started the first night and more began going, rather than coming to the house. It was the turning point.
There was a strong Pierce County Sheriff response in this situation. They were aware of the activity in the home and of the HOA concerns due to meetings with the HOA. They also were familiar with the squatters. Department staff spoke to the HOA and encouraged them to continue keeping their neighborhood safe. Some arrests were made during the exodus the first night of the headlight brigade.
In three days the squatters were gone and the HOA took it upon themselves to secure the house and board up the windows. They are working with Pierce County Responds and the bank for cleanup of the garbage left behind. It is supposed to be done in the next week or so as of the time this column was submitted.
This HOA has another home with a similar situation they will be working on in their community. They are empowered. They have resolved to stay the course and be aggressive, no more passive moments. They decided talking and waiting would not get change. Changing how they reacted to the squatters made them change the squatters behavior.
There was no retaliation. The lesson the HOA took away from this was if we all stand together, and support each other and have a large presence, retaliation was avoided. Their message: Stand up and support your neighbors, they are making change for the many.
