Good afternoon.

Today is Tuesday, August 4th, 2026, and this is the City of Tempe Hearing Officer hearing.

My name's Vanessa McDonald.

Um, I'm conducting the hearing this afternoon.

I'm gonna read something into the record, and then I'm gonna go ahead and go into the published 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 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 also may authorize the city to abate the property.

The cost of the abatement is the responsibility of the owner of the property where the violation occurs and will be 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 July 21st, 2026, and two property abatements.

It was brought to my attention uh right before this hearing that agenda item number four, uh, the property located at 1662 East Verlay Drive here in the city of Tempe has been brought into compliance, so we're no longer going to abate that property or hear that case to abate the property.

Any property owner who is aggrieved by a decision of the hearing officer may file an appeal within 14 calendar days after the hearing officer has made a decision.

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

on August 18th, 2026.

Abatement appeals are heard by the Board of Adjustment, after which they may also be appealed to Maricopa County Superior Court.

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

Joining me this afternoon from community development, Cassidy McFarron, Sean DeFara, and Drew Yoko to my right.

Thank you.

So now we can get into our agenda this afternoon.

The first item on our agenda is uh the a set of minutes from July 21st, 2026.

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

So I'm gonna approve the minutes of July 21st, 2026.

Agenda item number two is a request for approval to abate public nuisance items at the Cardoza Rodriguez property located at 1431 West Geneva Drive.

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

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon, Madame Hearing Officer.

My name is Melissa Insing, and I'm 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 1431 West Geneva Drive.

Tempe, Arizona, 85282.

This case was initiated on February 3rd, 2026 for uncultivated vegetation in the alley.

That entails grass and weeds and gravel landscape and overheight grass and weeds in the front, side and rear yards.

Dead palm fronds on the palm trees, uncultivated vegetation in the alley, and trash and debris in the front, side and rear yards, as well as the alley.

I attempted to contact the owner by phone and email.

One citation was issued to the owner on May 13th, 2026.

The owner paid the fines and fees.

And this time I'd like to present photos taken today of the existing violations.

Thank you.

And this photo is the overview of the front yard.

Um they did have a landscaper come out and remove the grass and weeds today.

The palm fronds are still in violation on all the palm fronds or palm trees.

So they start up here and then they come down.

This is a picture of the side of the front yard.

There's some trash and debris that's still in the driveway.

And then again, the palm fronds on that palm tree.

This is the picture of the alleyway.

You can see the uncultivated uncultivated vegetation growing.

It's actually going up halfway to the fence, up the fence.

Thank you.

Yeah.

And this photo is the rear yard.

You can see all the vegetation growing and then trash and debris as well.

Here's a closer view of the west side of the rear yard where you can see the overheight grass and weeds growing.

It's all almost to the over the top of the fence.

Is the backyard split in half?

It is.

Huh.

Here's a closer view of the other half.