Kingsland To Renew Focus on Properties

KINGSLAND - Kingsland City Council member Linda Burns said she intends to take “the next step” in enforcing the city’s ordinance regarding unkempt properties in the city after progress on the clean-up of some of those targeted sites has slowed.Meanwhile, a former Kingsland resident told the Kingsland City Council that he is starting an effort to put up a marker to recognize  the contributions that local merchant Jimmy Drake made to the community.Burns told the city council during its regular monthly meeting last Thursday night that she has noticed that the progress being made on some of the unkempt properties in town had stopped. In a previous council meeting, she had mentioned that some of the property owners were starting to follow through on the city’s prompts to clean up their property.“You could see a little bit (of progress), but not enough to make a difference,” Burns told the council last Thursday.Burns, who has been the spearhead behind much of the city’s efforts to improve the unsightly properties in town, told the council that she is ready to pursue “the next step” in enforcing the city two ordinances regarding the appearance of properties within the city limits. Ordinance 2008-2 requires premises to be “kept free from weeds, rank grass, garbage, rubbish and other unsightly and unsanitary articles.” Ordinance 2011-1 prohibits the “storage of junked or unlicensed vehicles and inoperable or abandoned mobile homes.”Ordinance 2008-2 gives the property owners 20 days to clean up before the city can go onto the property to clean up the violation and pass those charges along to the property owner. Failure to pay for the clean up will result in a lien being placed on the property.Ordinance 2011-1 allows an inoperable vehicle or mobile home to be kept on a property for 30 days before the city can take action. The cost of removing the vehicle or mobile home will be charged to the p...