Good afternoon.

Today is Tuesday, June 2nd, 2026, and my name's Vanessa McDonald.

I'm the hearing officer for the City of Tempe.

This is our first hearing of the month.

I'm going to go ahead and read something into the record before we jump into our agenda this afternoon.

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 junker refuse, and storage of inoperable or unregistered vehicles.

Any property owner who is aggrieved by a decision of the hearing officer may file an appeal within fourteen calendar days after the hearing officer has made a decision.

The deadline for appealing any decision rendered today is 3 p.m.

on June 16th, 2026.

Appeals are heard by the Board of Adjustment after which they may also be appealed to the 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 to my left are Cassidy McFarrin and Sean DeFara from Community Development.

Excuse me, community development.

Thank you guys for being here and setting up the hearing today.

As I mentioned, the first item on our agenda is a set of minutes from the May 5th, 2026 hearing.

I had a chance to review the minutes when they were sent to me after the May 5th hearing, and I believe that they accurately reflect what took place at that hearing.

So I'm gonna go ahead and approve the minutes from May 5th, 2026.

The next item on our agenda is a request for approval to abate public nuisance items at the Garcia Perez property located at 1523 East Stevens Drive.

The applicant is the City of Tempe represented this afternoon by Code Compliance Inspector Melissa Ensing.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Thank you, Madame Hearing Officer.

My name is Melissa Insing, and I'm a code compliance inspector with City of Tempe Code Compliance Division.

I am here this evening to request a 180-day open abatement for the property located at 1523 East Stevens Drive, Tempe, Arizona 85283.

This case was initiated on September 11, 2025 for deteriorated landscape.

Uncultivated vegetation in the alley, and dead trees in the backyard.

One citation was issued to the owner on January 30th, 2026.

The owner filed to appear in court.

At this time, I would like to present photos taken today of the existing violations.

Thank you.

This is the front of the property.

The owner did correct the violations.

He had grass and weeds in the gravel, but he's maintained them since I sent the notices.

I have been in contact with him.

There was a dead tree in the backyard that he did remove that was right here.

Currently, there's still two dead trees remaining in the rear, and then the uncultivated vegetation in the alley.

As stated before, I'm seeking a 180-day open abatement for the deteriorated landscape and uncultivated vegetation located at 1523 East Stevens Drive, Tempe, Arizona, 85283.

Thank you.

I'm happy to see the progress that the homeowner has made.

The pictures that were in my packet were dated April 10th, and so from these photos to what I just saw today, he has made significant progress, but the two dead palm trees still remain.

The dead tree off to the side in the backyard has been removed as well as the stuff up front.

Nevertheless, I do think that you need the tool, the 180-day open abatement tool, just to help him stay on top of the property.

I'm gonna ask Mr.

DeFar, is there anyone on the line wanting to talk about this agenda item?

Madam Hearing Officer, no one online.

Okay.

And I believe everyone here in the chamber is either a city of Tempe staff or here related to the second abatement case for the next property.

Can you nod if that's correct?

That is correct.

Okay, thank you.

Um, well, given the fact that there's still a little bit left, I do think that you do need the 180-day open abatement tool.

Um, I hope he's aware.

How do we make people aware of the two week window?

Like, hey, if you clean it up within the next two weeks, I've been in contact with him as well as my supervisor.

We both explained the process, and he understands that I present it today, and then he has the two weeks to either correct it or appeal it.

Okay, great.

Um, because maybe he'll just get these trees taken care of.

It's a big job removing those palm trees though, they're heavy and not easy to remove.

Um, so thank you for the presentation.

Um I am going to approve the 180-day open abatement request for the property located at 1523 East Stevens Drive contained in case CE255454.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next item on our agenda is the abate a request for approval to abate public nuisance items at the Hall property.

This property is located at 1314 South Martin Lane.

The applicant is the city of Tempe, represented this afternoon by Code Inspector Michael Moreno.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon and thank you, Madam Hearing Officer.

My name is Michael Moreno, and I am a code compliance inspector with the City of Tempe code compliance division.

I'm here this evening to request a 180-day open abatement for the property located at 1314 South Martin Lane, Tempe, Arizona, 85281.

This case was initiated on December 17th, 2025, after code compliance received an anonymous complaint about deteriorated landscaping, trash and debris, and a homeless encampment on the property.

On December 17th, 2025, an initial inspection was conducted and the violations were confirmed at that time.

I spoke with the property owner, Daniel Hall, regarding the violations.

The first notice was then mailed to the property owner, Daniel A.

Hall.

On January 2nd, 2026, a follow-up inspection was conducted on the property.

The violations had not been corrected, and a final notice was mailed to the property owner, Daniel Hall.

On January 22nd, 2026, a citation was issued to the property owner Daniel Hall, and on February 5th, 2026, I received a subpoena with the hearing date set for March 25th of 2026.

From February 5th to March 25th, code compliance received multiple complaints for the homeless encampment on the property and trash and debris.

On March 25th of 2026, the property owner, Daniel A.

Hall pled responsible for the violations on the property.

All fines and fees have been paid.

From April 2nd, 2026 to April 23rd, 2026, myself, Tempe PD, Care 7, Adult Protective Services, and an APS referred realtor met with the property owner every week on the property to assist and answer any questions or concerns Mr.

Hall had.

Due to the hard work of these parties, progress had been made on the property.

On April 23rd, 2026, the notice of intent to abate was mailed and posted to the property.

From April 23rd of 2026 to May 28th of 2026, the party I previously listed had met with the property owner on site every week to assist Mr.

Hall with the property violations.

I would now like to present the photos taken today of the existing violations.

And you said that some of the property had been cleaned up prior to these pictures.

Correct.

Yes.

Okay.

The first photo here is on the southeast corner of the property.

Just to kind of give you an idea from the sidewalk.

As you can see, we you can see various buckets and items, as well as appliances on this side, as well as some overheight grass and weeds here along the side and the back here.

As we continue on the southeast side of the property.

Here we can see various trash bags as well as some of the appliances I talked about earlier and other buckets and various boxes, as well as multiple bins here on the side.

In the backyard area, as you can see, we have some deteriorated landscape as well as this large dead stump, and some other items here, tarps, various clothing, deteriorated chairs, as well as other buckets and other items.

This photo is further towards the rear.

As you can see, we have tables that are full of clothing and other fabrics, as well as miscellaneous wood throughout the property, cans, bottles, various items.

This photo is directly behind the house on the property in the back area there.

As you can see, we have tables that is full of miscellaneous junk trash and debris, as well as some other appliances and sinks, as well as bins that are also full of trash.

As you can see, we have deteriorated landscaping as well.

I know that's kind of hard to see right there, but we have some dead branches along this hedgerow here in the front.

Once again, we have sinks, uh deteriorated tables, shelving units, boxes, various items, as well as deteriorated bikes, uh laundry bins that are full of miscellaneous fabrics and clothing.

This photo here is in the center of the property, where we can see there's multiple items, such as boxes, buckets, clothing items.

Uh there's two or three different refrigerators back here as well, as well as some overheight grass and weeds and deteriorated landscaping.

As I stated before, I am seeking a 180-day open abatement for the violations of trash and debris and deteriorated landscaping located at the 1314 South Martin Lane property.

Thank you.

What is the status of the homeless encampment?

So, as of right now, from what I have been told today, because I spoke with Mr.

Hall today, they went down to one of the courthouses here.

The gentleman that was in the trailer, he is now off the property.

There is one more person in the accessory dwelling unit towards the center of the property.

They're finalizing the eviction process with that.

I believe their next appointment is on the 8th to try to remove her from the property.

Once they're gone, essentially everybody is off of the property.

And it was only those two individuals?

There was another individual that was living in a tent.

He has since been contacted by his parole officer to stay off the property.

And from my understanding, we have not seen him on the property at all.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mr.

Defar is anyone on the line wanting to talk about this item.

Madam here and officer, we have uh one, possibly two individuals in the audience that want to speak on these case.

No, I know, but no one on the line.

No one online.

Okay.

Thank you.

Yeah, I was gonna mention that I've been given two speaker cards.

Um, one the property owner, Mr.

Hall, and another individual who would like to speak only if requested to do so by the property owner.

So uh Mr.

Hall, if you would like to come up.

Um you don't have to, but Mr.

Hall, when you get to the podium, Mr.

Hall.

When you get to the podium, you state your name and city of residency.

Am I standing at the podium?

Correct, right there, sir.

And the microphone is to your left.

Yep, that's it.

Thank you.

Just state your name and your city of residency, please.

Uh my name is Daniel August Hall, and I live at 1314 in South Martin Lane.

Uh the reason we've had so much trouble with the property is because uh about 10 years ago I allowed a young man to come and stay on the property.

Uh and uh at first he was just operating a like a little uh bicycle shop on the property, but uh this got much much worse, and he was bringing uh just a terrible amount of debris onto the property.

This was material that he had collected from uh uh local dumpsters and and just everywhere and uh uh he had a uh a wife who was in prison at first, and I knew nothing about her, but she came to live on the property as well, and her name was uh Lorena Victoria Osinko, and uh uh her husband's name was Torby Andrew Worthen, and uh so uh they're both uh pack rats, they just collect everything that you can imagine, and uh this became project uh kind of insane, and uh uh there were times when I would have liked to evict them, but uh I'm 88 years old, and when you're 88 years old, trying to evict someone is kind of a problem, and uh but uh recently I've had help from the city of Tempe.

I've gotten a lot of help from Michael Moreno.

Uh and Andrea Francis, and uh they've been coming on on the property uh every Thursday at 10 o'clock and uh advising me about the cleanup of the property, and uh we've made a tremendous amount of progress, and uh something that helped greatly was that uh uh Torby Worthin's parole officer has ordered him to stay off the property.

Now he hasn't followed this advice very strictly.

He does come on the property.

In fact, I think he was on the property today, but uh uh he doesn't stay on the property, he he may stay for five or ten minutes and then he's gone.

And uh he'll have to find some way of supporting himself other than just by collecting junk and trying to sell it.

Uh there are other ways of making a living.

It's just that Toby doesn't really want to get into anything that's strenuous.

Right.

Uh, is there anything else you would like to hear about this?

Um, no, I don't think so.

Thank you for appearing today, and thank you uh for the progress that you have made on the property, and thank you for allowing the city to help you with this property.

Um, as I see the photographs and listen to you, I think that you're the type of property owner here in the city that this program is set up to help and the care seven program is also set up to offer assistance to individuals like yourself, long-time property owners here in the city, get along advanced in age, and a lot of times it's too much for a single individual to handle, so they need the support of the community.

Yes.

It was my mother who bought this property in 1944, and I haven't lived on the property all the time since 1944, but almost all the time.

And uh so I'm a long, long tempee resident.

Nice.

Um do you understand the process that we're doing here today?

So your property is set to be what's called abated, um, which means um after I would render a decision today, um, there's a two-week window during which you could complete the process of bringing your property into compliance, or the city will come onto your property and they will finish cleaning the property, trimming away the deteriorated landscaping and taking away a lot of the debris and stuff that still is on the property.

I just want to make sure that you're aware that that's the process that's taking place today.

I think I understand that part of it.

Okay.

Good.

Well, thank you so much.

Good luck to you, sir.

Um, and yeah, good luck to you.

Thank you.

Um, Miss Francis, did you want to speak?

And again, if you can state your name and city of residence for the record.

Andrea Francis, Queen Creek.

Thank you.

I just wanted to add, we were at the courthouse today for the eviction of Lorena, and uh right now the rate of restitution will be issued on the 8th of June, which then the constable can come in and remove her.

After that time, there is a legal 21 day that he's supposed to hold any belongings that belong to Lorena.

So he anything left on the property that is Lorena's, um, he's as a landlord is supposed to hold those belongings until she either comes to get them or 21 days have passed.

And how do you discern what belongs to her and what doesn't?

I have no idea.

You'd have to ask Daniel.

Okay.

I don't know it belongs to her.

Okay.

Um, well, I'm certain that there's an accommodation that can be made.

And a a large part of this abatement I believe would be a lot of the landscaping.

That doesn't belong to her very clearly.

So um I'm confident that you guys, Mr.

Hall, you whomever else can work.

With Michael, yeah, so he can help you and um keep the process moving to get the property cleaned up to community standards, but also work with him and the different processes that you have going on.

Sounds good, thank you.

Thank you.

Well, once again, thanks to the testimony um of the property owner, and thank you, Mr.

Moreno, for your efforts in working with the property and the other agencies here within the city to get this property remediated.

Um I am going to go ahead and approve um the 180-day abatement request that you requested in this case, just so that you can have the tool that you need um to keep the process moving and to keep revisiting the property for the next 180 days while all those different processes are still going on.

Um so I'm formally approving uh the application for the abatement of public nuisance items at 1314 South Martin Lane, contained in KCE 257 949.

Thank you all.

This that concludes our agenda this afternoon.

Uh Mr.

DeFara, any announcements?

Madam Hearing Officer, one announcement.

Our next hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, June 16th at 5 o'clock here in the council chambers.

Perfect.

Thank you so much.

Have a good evening, everyone.