Palmer targeting unsightly premises

KATE GOLDEN

Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - The city has declared a well-mannered war on the quintessential Alaska front lawn.

"It doesn't belong in the city of Palmer," Palmer City Council member Tony Pippel said.

Palmer Community Development Director Sara Jansen and a staff member recently toured every street in Palmer looking for "unsightly premises."

Unsightly premises, as defined in Palmer Municipal Code 8.38, are those properties that are so ugly - whether from disrepair, junk or extraneous vegetation - that everyone else's nearby properties are worth less as a result.

"This includes but is not limited," the code says, "to the keeping or disposing of or the scattering over the property or premises of any lumber, junk, trash or debris; abandoned, discarded or unused objects or equipment such as automobiles, furniture, stoves, refrigerators, freezers, cans or containers; stagnant water or excavations; or any device, decoration, design, fence, structure, clothesline or vegetation that is unsightly by reason of its condition or its inappropriate location."

Could this be your

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"It hasn't been done a whole lot in the past, because it's very cumbersome," Pippel said. He used to go for drives around Palmer with his wife on summer evenings, looking for violators.

The council has been pressing administrators to enforce the ordinance "as vigorously as possible," according to Steve Carrington, another City Council member.

Jansen isn't gunning for junk-displaying property owners, although she did take pictures to document what she saw. Instead of immediately assessing a fine, she sends a letter that says, "We think you may be in violation."

That first round is enough to get most people moving, Pippel said.

"Some people are completely unaware that there are standards," he said.

Others just need a little prod.

The city is willing to work with people with special circumstances. Pippel said they've offered to bring in Dumpsters, provide discounts to Dumpsters and bring in Boy Scouts, especially for older people with disabilities.

If nothing has changed on Jansen's second drive-by, the erring property owner will get another letter determining whether the premises violate 8.38.

After that letter, a property owner has 30 days to dispose of the junk. The penalty for noncompliance is $200 initially, plus $25 a day for each day after that.

"I, of course, would hope to avoid going to that length," Jansen said of the penalty. She has worked with people in the past, she said, who have reasons to store unsightly materials on their lawns temporarily. "Our goal is not to embarrass anybody," she said. "Our goal is just to get people to clean up their lawns a little bit and respect their neighbors."

While Pippel said he thought those who want to display their junk should buy property elsewhere for it, he qualified his ire. It's all right and, frankly, Alaskan to have a car on the lawn you like to tinker on. "But you don't need 12 of 'em," he said.

Contact Kate Golden at

352-2284 or kate.golden@

frontiersman.com.