PROPERTY MAINTENANCE VIOLATIONS
Properties with overgrown yards, dilapidated buildings, junk cars and discarded appliances tend to devalue other properties around them. South Dakota Codified Law (SDCL) 9-29-13 allows municipalities to declare what constitutes a nuisance and provides the municipality the power to prevent, abate and remove the same. The enforcement of nuisance codes and the property maintenance code helps to protect the home and property investments of homeowners. It is for this reason the City of Hot Springs has adopted ordinances identifying specific nuisances and adopted the Property Maintenance Code to provide general property maintenance requirements and procedures for abatement. These regulations are available for review at City Hall during business hours.
Property maintenance and nuisance ordinances identify grass, weeds and other uncultivated vegetation in excess of twelve inches (12”) in height as being a nuisance. A public notice to the citizens of the City of Hot Springs is published in the legal section of this edition of this newspaper. With that general notice already having been givenany properties having violations such as excessive grass or weed height will receive one additional written notice to abate giving a reasonable amount of time to correct the violation. If the notice is not complied with the City will have the violation corrected and the property owner will be billed that cost.Other nuisance items that hinder the cleanup, such as discarded appliances or rubbish, will also be removed and discarded. Only one notice will be issued to a property per year, upon repeat violations the Code Enforcement Officer will have the violation corrected and the property owner will again be billed.If a property owner fails to pay the bill(s) the costs will be accessed to that property.
A new program for 2014 entitled Groceries for Cars is intended to help clean up yards and get rid of inoperable vehicles. The program provides a $150.00 grocery gift card to the owners of junk, wrecked or inoperable vehicles in trade for that vehicle. The program is designed to help people clean up their property while at the same time putting food on the table.Questions regarding these programs and regulations can be directed to the City of Hot Springs Building and Zoning Department/Office of Code Enforcement at 745-4104 or .