Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
The City of Tempe Hearing Officer, Vanessa McDonald, convened the meeting on October 20, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. in the Tempe Council Chambers. The agenda included approval of minutes from the October 6, 2026 meeting and abatement requests for three properties.
Good afternoon. Today is Tuesday, October 20th, 2026, and this is the second hearing this month for the City of Tempe Hearing Officer. My name's Vanessa McDonald, and I'm conducting the hearing this afternoon. I'm going to read something into the record before we actually jump into our agenda this afternoon and hear our cases. 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 violations. 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 October 6th, 2026, and we have two property abatements. Abatement appeals are heard by the Board of Adjustment here in Tempe, 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. Represented this afternoon by Inspector Luke Donsel. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, Madam Hearing Officer. My name is Luke Doncell. I'm the code inspector with the City of Tempe Community Enhancement Division. I'm here this evening to request a 10 day open abatement for the property located at 1101 West Greenway Drive, Tempe, Arizona 85282. This case was initiated by a public complaint on March 10th, 2026 for drunk trash and debris and an inoperable unregistered vehicle. On March 11th, 2026, the property was inspected, and the violation uh over height grass and weeds was subsequently added. A correction notice was mailed out to the property owner, Mr. Travis Spelrum. On April 1st, 2026, the property was reinspected and found to be still in violation. A final correction notice was mailed to Mr. Spellrum. Both I and Code Inspector Supervisor John Salazar have been in contact with Mr. Spellrum via phone and in person over the last eight months regarding the violations at the property to include two different correction notices mailed to the property. Mr. Spellrum removed the overheight grass and weeds as well as the inoperable and unregistered vehicle, but the junk trash and debris in the rear yard is still in violation. On September 16th, 2026, the notice of intent to embate was mailed and posted to the property for this October 20th, 2026 hearing. On September 24th, 2026, we received another public complaint regarding junk, trash and debris on the property. I would now like to present photos taken today of the existing violations. This photo here is of the front of the property. Can I stop you for a minute? Yes, ma'am. Neither of these monitors are working. So I can't see what you guys are. There we go. Thank you. This photo here is of the front of the property. Mr. Spelman had items, wooden pallets stacked against this wall and in the driveway, as well as uh metal filing cabinets, which he had removed and placed in the trailer you see here. This is a photo of the back of the property. As you can see, and the swimming pool has been drained. There is what appears to be an old speaker here.