Violations for unlicensed and inoperable vehicles down considerably

Columbus city officials say that they are seeing fewer abandoned, unlicensed and inoperable vehicles in the city.

Code Enforcement Coordinator Fred Barnett says that violations have dropped  since 2015. That year, there were 420 violations for offending vehicles on public and private property. Those were resolved 25 percent of the time, Barnett said.

In 2018, there were 224 combined vehicle violations, Barnett says. They were resolved 76 percent of the time. As of April 15th of this year, Barnett says there’s been a combined 60 violations. Forty-seven of them have been resolved.

Barnett credits changes made to the ordinance that “put teeth” into enforcement efforts. He adds that another factor that’s improved compliance was the city’s insistence on establishing, and maintaining, a landlord directory. Barnett says that in most cases, landlords have been receptive to calls and notices from him informing them of violations on their property.

Last night, Columbus City Council approved an amendment to the city code on abandoned, unlicensed and inoperable vehicles. Mary Ferdon, the city’s director of administration, says the change would keep the city in compliance with a recent change in state statute requiring vehicles to displace their registration sticker. Additionally, Ferdon says that the change will also help the city’s code enforcement do its job.