City of Tempe Hearing Officer Meeting - February 17, 2026
City of Tempe Hearing Officer Meeting - February 17, 2026
The City of Tempe Hearing Officer convened a public hearing on Tuesday, February 17, 2026, at 5:03 PM local time. The purpose of the meeting was to address three agenda items: the approval of meeting minutes and two requests for 180-day open abatements for code violations. Staff present included Community Development representatives and Code Compliance supervisors. Hearing Officer Harris presided over the proceedings.
Consent Calendar
- Minutes from January 20, 2026: The minutes from the previous hearing officer meeting were noted as an agenda item and approved.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No members of the public were present online or in the chambers to provide testimony on either of the abatement cases.
Discussion Items
1. Abatement Request: 1107 West 10th Street (KCE 25310) Code Compliance Supervisor Kevin Kowalski presented the case against property owner Amos Cox. The case originated in July 2025 following complaints of junk, trash, debris, overgrown weeds, and inoperable/unregistered vehicles. Mr. Kowalski detailed extensive efforts to contact the owner over eight months, including multiple notices, in-person contacts, emails, and phone messages. The owner’s mother was contacted but refused to provide contact information. Communication from Mr. Cox was sporadic, and he did not appear for court citations, resulting in default judgments. Photographs taken the day of the hearing showed the property had deteriorated further, with a makeshift climbing wall, mattresses, scrap metal, appliances, and overgrown vegetation in the yard and alley.
2. Abatement Request: 405 West University Drive (KCM251137) Code Compliance Inspector Sammy Baptiste presented the case against Nauru’s Limited Partnership (care of Maziar Masruar). The case was initiated on July 3, 2025, following a complaint for junk, trash, debris, graffiti, deteriorated landscape, exterior modification, and inoperable lighting. Over eight months, the city issued multiple notices and citations. While the owner paid fines for one citation, the violations were never fully corrected. Photographs submitted at the hearing showed an unaddressed dead tree, persistent graffiti on utility boxes and doors, and scattered debris across the property.
Key Outcomes
- Minutes Approved: The minutes from the January 20, 2026, meeting were accepted.
- Abatement Approved for 1107 W. 10th Street: The hearing officer approved the 180-day open abatement request. The owner has 14 days (until March 3, 2026) to file an appeal or remedy the violations before city abatement begins.
- Abatement Approved for 405 W. University Drive: The hearing officer approved the 180-day open abatement request, citing eight months of non-compliance and sporadic communication. The same 14-day deadline for appeal or compliance applies.
- Next Meeting: The next hearing officer meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 17, 2026, at 5:00 PM.
Meeting Transcript
Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Okay, perfect. You can start when you're ready. Okay, thank you so much. It's 5 03. Today is Tuesday, February 17th, 2026. And sorry for the unusual nature of this hearing, uh, but this is the hearing for the City of Tempe Hearing Officer. Um, and I'm calling the meeting to order. I'm gonna read through something briefly, and then we'll go ahead and jump into our agenda this afternoon. 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 often include deteriorated pools, structures, or landscaping, storage of junk or refuse 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. On today's agenda, we have three items. We have a set of minutes from January 20th, 2026, and two property abatements. Any property owner who is agreed by a decision of the hearing officer may file an appeal 14 calendar days after the hearing officer has rendered a decision. The deadline for appealing any decision rendered today is 3 p.m. on March 3rd, 2026. 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 their property into code compliance. If an appeal isn't filed or the property isn't brought into compliance within this required 14-day time frame, the property will be abated by the city. Joining me this afternoon, I think I can't see everyone, but I believe I have Cassidy McFerrin, Sean Defara, and Drew Yokum from community development. As I mentioned earlier, we have three items on the agenda. Represented this afternoon, I believe, by um code inspector Kevin Kowalski. That's correct. Good afternoon. I'm a co-compliance supervisor with the City of Tempe Co-compliance Division. On July 7th of 2025, a follow-up inspection was conducted with no improvement found. And a final notice was sent to the same owner. On August 6th, I made an in-person contact with the owner's mother, Georgina, at that property, who said her son already cut the grass. But I explained to her that there were still other violations remaining. She refused to provide any contact information for her son Amos, so I provided her with my business card and asked her to pass that information along. Approximately a week later, on August 13th, I received an email from Mr. Cox in which he expressed confusion about the violations. I responded to him via email on the 18th of August trying to clarify the situation. And I also obtained a phone number for him where I called and left a message requesting for him to call back to discuss the matter. On September 3rd, I sent a new and revised final to Mr. Cox to include an unoperable and unregistered vehicle parked in the driveway. On the 15th of September, I conducted another reinspection, and that inspection yielded non-compliance. Photos were taken on that day, and a citation was issued. On September 30th, the defendant to Mr. Cox failed to appear in court, and two weeks later, a default judgment was entered. On October 20th, a code of enforcement received another anonymous complaint regarding some over high grass and weeds in the alley. On the 27th of October, I sent Mr. Cox a new revised final to include the alley violation. Also, in addition to attempting to generate some contact from the homeowner. On November 10th, the property was still in violation. A second citation was issued. Subsequently, Mr.
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