Nuisance properties in the Golden Heart City: What qualifies, what can be done?

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) - Peppered throughout Interior Alaska, certain kinds of properties make themselves known to the Fairbanks North Star Borough and the City of Fairbanks by creating problems for neighbors.

Some are well-known; others sit on back roads and in low-population neighborhoods.

These places, sometimes referred to as nuisance properties, take many different forms and it ultimately comes down to the borough or the city to take action.

The borough’s Community Planning Department does not use the term nuisance property.

Instead, certain code-violating properties are referred to as junkyards. According to Kellen Spillman, Director of Community Planning, “A junkyard is a property that accumulates, per definition, over a thousand square feet of what’s called junk, and junk is typically inoperable, unlicensed automobiles, various machinery parts, construction debris, et cetera.”

This definition makes it difficult to apply throughout the borough, as not all neighborhoods have properties that size. “Obviously, we have much more dense neighborhoods downtown, and then when you get out into the Chena Ridge, Farmers Loop, Badger Road areas, the lot sizes go up,” he said.

Most areas of the borough allow junkyards. However, certain standards must be met, Spillman said. “Junkyards do have to be more than 500 feet away from schools, hospitals, public buildings or any residentially zoned properties.”

These properties must also be fenced.

Out of the 500 or so open code enforcement cases in the borough, Spillman estimates that around half of them involve junkyards.

These are brought to the borough’s attention through complaints, according to the director. “We don’t go out looking for violations unless members of the public come to us and make us aware of a violation.”

Complaints can involve a junkyard in residential areas, where they’re not allowed, or junk encroaching on a public right-of-way, making the road difficult to maintain.

Once it has been determined that a code has been violated, the borough tries to get voluntary compliance from the property owner before resorting to citations or court action. Brant Finstad, FNSB Code Enforcement Officer, said, “Cooperation varies quite a bit. People don’t like to be told what to do with their property, especially in this community, but in general, people, once they find out that we’re not coming down very hard, we do everything we can not to cite them or get things balled up in the courts, and so people in general do make progress toward compliance.”

According to Spillman, “It has been well over a decade since the borough has kind of proceeded with an action like that, so there are possibilities to get court-ordered cleanups, that type of thing, but the borough will do everything they can to avoid doing that.”

Complaints can be submitted via email or in-person to the borough’s community planning department. These can be anonymous or not.

According to Spillman, the borough has programs available for property owners looking to come into compliance.

The City of Fairbanks, meanwhile, identifies five different kinds of nuisance properties within the city limits, according to Jeff Jacobson, Public Works Director for the city. “One is nuisance property based on illegal activities that have caused a nuisance to the public because of excessive police response. Maybe it’s a domestic violence disturbance, maybe a theft, maybe it’s altercations, perhaps inebriation and illegal drug activity, things like that.”

These, according to Jacobson, tend to happen in apartment buildings, and fall under the responsibility of the Fairbanks Police Department.

Another kind of nuisance happens when a building is abandoned. A number of buildings in the City of Fairbanks have been abandoned by their owners and left open for potential squatting.

Because these buildings often are not hooked up to water or a safe heating system, they can become a fire hazard. “People are trying to stay warm, and so they will use whatever means, whether it’s a camp stove or even by building a stove or a fire using wood or other materials, flammable materials, and so that’s where some of these structures have caught on fire. We have had several residences that have caught on fire that were inhabited by, you might say, illegal camping indoors that destroyed private property,” Jacobson said.

“If it’s uninhabited or unsafe for occupancy, and someone has moved in there, may be squatting in there, and it’s become a health hazard, and so the building department responds to those and notifies a property owner that they need to secure that building to prevent occupancy because it’s unsafe,” he added.

Because these buildings often are not hooked up to water or a safe heating system, they can become a fire hazard.

The owner is given an opportunity to come up with a plan for making the building safe. Jacobson explained, “If they don’t have a plan, and if they don’t have a timeline for repairs, then the city will take action to demolish that property in pursuit of public safety, and those demolition costs or abatement costs are then recorded and placed upon the property owner.”

A third category happens when an excessive number of vehicles are parked in the area around a property,

When vehicles start to block the sidewalk, the roadway, or areas needed for service, “That is a right-of-way issue, and that is enforced by the Engineering Department,” said Jacobson.

Finally, the last two categories are tackled by Public Works and they involve the accumulation of material on someone’s property.

One is loose trash, which the city works with the owner to remove. “It’s unsanitary, but also it affects the neighbors to have that kind of property. It attracts a variety of different negative behaviors as a result of that and leads to conflict between neighbors,” said Jacobson.

Properties that accumulate loose trash often take priority from the city, as they can present a health hazard. Because of that, Jacobson said, “We try to address that throughout the year. It’s very hard, though. When things are frozen to the ground, you’re not very effective removing that, so in those situations, we might have to go back in the summer, when we’re able to remove all of the loose trash or place it on the property owner to make an effort throughout the year to do that.”

The other is more loosely defined as solid waste, including building and construction material, furniture and other items. Jacobson explained, “Those are the ones that, I think, are the most challenging in the fact that in Alaska, what one person considers their treasure and their investment, another person considers garbage and a nuisance, and it’s finding that balancing act.”

In this case, the department will work with owners to lessen the amount of raw material stored on the property, but as a last resort, will remove it without the owner’s permission. “That’s the effort of last resort, because the last thing we want to do is be on someone’s property and they are very angry or enraged, and they are protecting their possessions, and that could involve firearms or other kinds of weapons, and so we don’t want to put any employees in harm’s way in those kind of situations, and that’s where the police are involved at that point,” he explained.

According to Jacobson, “Within the City of Fairbanks, there are likely hundreds of properties that could be identified as nuisance properties. These range “from the extreme hoarders to it’s just a rundown-looking property with things that, just with a little bit of TLC and effort could just turn it around.”

This makes it necessary to prioritize which property owners the borough will contact, bumping up those that will most likely have a positive result. “It’s a frustrating process for neighbors who see this problem and want something done right away because it’s affecting their daily life. It’s a burden that we barely hear of not being able to help them as quick as we would like to,” concluded Jacobson.