And we still have the two cases, correct?

Yes, ma'am.

Okay.

Okay, Vanessa, we're ready when you are.

Okay.

Well, good afternoon.

It's 1 o'clock PM on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2025.

This is the first hearing of this month for the hearing officer for the City of Tempe.

My name's Vanessa McDonald, and I'm the hearing officer conducting this hearing remotely this afternoon.

I'm going to read something into the record and then we can go ahead and jump into our agenda.

The City of Tempe Hearing Officer is authorized by Arizona Revised Statutes and the City of Tempe Zoning and Development Code.

The hearing officer is granted the authority to conduct public hearings to decide upon the abatement of code violations occurring on properties within the city.

These violations include deteriorated pools, structures, or landscaping, storage of junk or refuse, and storage of inoperable or unregistered vehicles.

Abatement actions are brought before the hearing officer by the city's code compliance division, typically after numerous attempts at contacting the property owner to obtain voluntary compliance with the code.

The hearing officer may issue an order directing the owner, occupant, property manager, or other responsible person to remediate a code violation, or may authorize the city to abate the property to correct the violation.

The cost of the abatement is the responsibility of the owner of the property where the violation occurs and is collected as an assessment against the property in violation of the code.

On today's agenda, we have three items.

We have a set of minutes from August 19th, 2025, and two property abatements.

Appeals are heard by the Board of Adjustment, after which they may also be appealed to Superior Court.

A property owner has 14 days after the hearing officer's decision to either file an appeal or bring the property into code compliance.

So I'm going to go ahead and approve the minutes from August 19th, 2025.

This property is located at 1620 East Williams Street, and the applicant is the City of Tempe Code Compliance.

This case was uh initiated on July 17, 2025 during an abatement when access was paved to the backyard, which was previously inaccessible.

Concerns found included junk trash debris, a deteriorated overgrown landscape, and dead pond fronds on a tree also located in the backyard for these reasons are here today requesting the approval of the abatement.

On 717 2025, the resident, the residence was abated under an ongoing 180-day approved abatement period.

During the abatement, access was paved to the backyard previously inaccessible and found the noted above on the 718 2025, a revised final notice was issued to the property owner outlining the deteriorated state of the landscaping, the overgrown um pawn fronds, junk trash debris, and some minor obstructions in the alley.

Thank you.

In this first photo.

Sorry, Hector, hang on one sec.

Before you begin, Vanessa, can you see these photos?

Uh yes, I can.

Thank you.

Thank you.

In this first photo, although cut off at the bottom, we are focusing our um vision here where the pawn tree can be completely seen overgrown in a deteriorated state.

This is another photo of that same pawn tree from a different uh perspective showing that it completely overgrown and needs some help.

This other photo here is of the front yard where we can see there has been some landscaping debris left behind, um, either not properly discarded or um properly stored.

This is another uh view of the front yard from the western portion outlining some more deterioration as well as some of the landscaping debris that was left behind.

This photo here illustrates the front side of yard area that although there has been some maintenance taken place, um, a lot of debris or useful or unuseful material has been left behind, not properly stored or discarded.

Has that maintenance been done by the property owner or by the city?

Um this particular portion of it was done by the city at our initiating abatement, um although continued to be trimmed back by the property owner.

Okay.

This is a photo of the backyard uh beginning to illustrate where our concerns stem from after the front yard was taken care of.

We can see pretty much throughout the entire playing field where all of the debris is either not properly stored, discarded, or um organized out of sight.

We can see different types of deteriorated grill material, makeshift tables, buckets, uh, and what appears to be a mattress.

Okay.

Here is a photo of the alleyway that can be seen is somewhat obstructed by a wall of oleanders that is coming into the um drivable space here as well as some debris under the underbrush.

This is another uh photo from the opposite viewpoint of the alleyway where we can see more debris as well as some deterioration here and some areas where it's coming into our uh drivable space.

And with this abatement, those will all get cleaned up, correct?

Yes, ma'am.

Okay.

And finally, uh, we can see um where other portions of the backyard uh lining up the home can be seen from the opposite point of access uh from the alley into Mr.

Van Eggman's yard where we can see more deterioration across the board.

At this point, I am kindly asking that the 180-day open abatement period be approved and hoping to move forward.

Thank you.

So would it be accurate to say that this wasn't included in the previous abatement because you couldn't see it?

And once that uh previous abatement took place, that created visibility by which you could see all the other things that needed to be abated.

Yeah, so once the front side yard area was cleared of all the overgrown pond fronds, oh, excuse me, um, only under and some of the dead branches that were taking up that entire space.

Um were granted access into the backyard.

We previously had a case also that um highlighted the pawn fronds on the palm tree that needed to be addressed, but for the same reasons, the inaccessibility of it, could not take care of it, and fortunately in this situation are now able to and appreciate your time this afternoon.

Sure, and the only reason I ask that is because if you looked at the dates, this would look as though it was on like a really accelerated abatement process.

Unusual, but given the fact that we would consider this property um a repeat offender, it that really is not the case, and the dates don't reflect what is actually taking place on the property.

So I just wanted to make sure I understood that.

Um Mr.

Yoakum, I can't see anyone in the chamber.

Is there one anyone in the chamber or online who wants to speak on this item?

No, madam hearing officer.

Okay.

Thank you.

So the photograph speak for itself.

This is more or less a continuation of your prior abatement.

Um, and so definitely I believe that this property is in need of abatement, so I'm gonna grant your 180-day open abatement request for the property located at 1620 East Williams in the city of Tempe, contained in case number CE 190735.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

That brings us to agenda item number three.

This is a request for abatement of public nuisance items at the Urschell property located at 3406 South Schaeffer Drive.

The applicant is the City of Tempe Code Compliance.

Represented this afternoon not by Sami Baptiste.

I thought that's who's in the packets.

No, good afternoon.

I think this is good afternoon, Madam Hearing Officer.

Good afternoon.

Okay.

Good afternoon, Madam Hearing Officer.

My name is Anna Churn.

I am a code compliance supervisor with the City of Tempe Code Compliance Division.

I'm here representing this case this afternoon on behalf of the sign inspector to request a 180-day open abatement for the property located at 3406 South Schaeffer Drive in Tempe, Arizona.

This case was initiated on March 1st of 2024 via a public complaint for the violation of a deteriorated landscape consisting of overheight grass and weeds on the property.

On this day, an initial inspection was conducted, and the violation was confirmed for over high grass and weeds in the front, back, and side yards, grass and weeds in the alley and in the sidewalk cracks of the driveway out to the street, and a dead tree in the front yard.

A first notice was issued and mailed to the homeowner Richard Urshell at the property address.

From then on, multiple reinspections were conducted with no progress made and limited communication from the owner.

Additional complaints came in during the month of July 2024 for pooling water and a mosquito infestation, as well as junk trash and debris in the backyard of trash bags piling up under the backyard patio over high grass and weeds and an unregistered vehicles.

On July 23rd, 2024, a final notice was sent with all the violations.

On September 24th of 2024, a citation was issued to the homeowner and pictures were taken.

On November 20th, 2024, the owner pled responsible but failed to pay fees.

During multiple reinspections between August of 24 to July of 25, violations remained with no progress.

A revised final was sent on seven on July 29th of 2025 to the property owner.

Throughout this case, multiple attempts to communicate with the owner have been made, and we have provided the owner with resources and multiple extensions to assist with getting the property into compliance.

As of this morning, all violations remain.

As you'll see in the photos, it does not appear the owner has made any progress.

I would like now to present the photos.

Thank you.

As you can see, Madam Hearing Officer, this is um Arizona Department of Transportation's motor vehicle record for one of the vehicles that's on the property that's unregistered.

It's gonna be the 1988 Dodge Ram.

And I'll point out the registration expiration date is February 28th of 2025.

And this was um this was ran this morning.

This demonstrates that the vehicle is still unregistered.

This is the license plate from this morning of that vehicle, and as you can see on the bottom right, it's demonstrating tags from February of 2023, also not showing current registration.

Okay.

Um, in a driveway.

Where you can see the front of the house on the east side, and this is their front yard landscape, and it demonstrates grass and weeds in the sidewalk cracks, um, over high grass and weeds along the perimeter of the dirt front yard, and then dead vegetation.

Thank you.

This is a close-up view of some of the dead bushes along the front of the house and some of the grass.

Again from the sidewalk.

Sorry, having trouble lining it up here.

Again from the sidewalk, you can see the grass and weeds that are going out to the street and along the front yard, which is also under uh city code 292, the responsibility of the owner to maintain it free of all vegetation.

Here's another picture of the front yard, which shows the grass and weeds, and then um over high grass right here as well as a dead tree and stump.

This is where the van is parked on the north side.

You can see grass and weeds in the cracks of the driveway, as well as a better view of that trees tree stump.

Then we'll move to the alley.

Um, this is gonna be the alley view from the public right-away, and you can see uh some vegetation landscape debris that needs to be removed.

Um, down here is a tree stump and some weeds.

Then we'll move to the backyard.

This is gonna be the side of the backyard where there's junk trash and debris piled up.

Here's a the best overall view I can give you of the backyard where there's still grass and weeds that are over high, junk trash, and debris.

This frame right here is considered drunk trash and debris and needs to be removed.

And then just a little bit closer view under the porch.

It does appear some of the trash bags have been removed, but the other junk trash and debris still remains, and then we have a dead um tree stump here as well.

Last photo, madam hearing officer, is just the side view from the backyard alley area of the yard with some grass and weeds that are over high, and then junk trash and debris with the tarps.

So as stated before, I'm seeking 180-day open abatement for the violations of nuisance code 213B1, junk trash and debris on the property, 213B3 on registered vehicle, and 213B8 deteriorated landscape on the property at 3406 South Schaefer Drive in Tempe.

Thank you, Madam Hearing Officer.

Thank you, Anna, for the presentation.

Uh, Mr.

Yokum, is there anyone on the line or in the chamber wanting to talk about this item?

No, Madam Hearing Officer.

Thank you.

Um, well, once again, unlike the previous case that looked like it happened pretty quickly.

This one, it has been 16 months in the making from the first inspection to when they were provided with the final notice of the abatement.

So and you can tell by the condition of the property they've had a long time to let all that debris um accumulate on the property.

So given the fact that you've had no communication with the property owner and they've been unresponsive to the city's efforts I'm going to go ahead and approve the 180 day open abatement request contained in case CE 2415 for the property located at 3406 South Schaeffer Drive.

Thank you Madam Hearing Officer.

You're welcome that concludes our agenda for this afternoon.

Any announcements?

Yes madam hearing officer thank you our next scheduled hearing is set for Tuesday September 16th that will be at 5 p.m here in the Tempe City Council chambers and live on Tempe 11.

Great thank you everyone have a good afternoon.

Thank you madam hearing officer