City looks to property owners to clean up any unsightly areas

City leaders are looking at ways to clean up unkempt properties in Flandreau and are prepared to put some owners on notice that they need to tidy up or risk having the city do it for them.

Complaints have been filed with the city against more than three properties for not meeting city property maintenance standards. Two of the ones identified are commercial, and one is residential. They include:

• The lot on Second Avenue where Flandreau Locker burned last summer has weeds and equipment left at the back of the area, along with some general debris. The city sent a letter May 17 to the property owner giving them 30 days to clean up the area.
• Big Sioux Tire on Pipestone Avenue was granted a conditional use permit in 2012, but it appears to not be in compliance with some provisions, said Jeff Pederson, city administrator. The business has stacks of tires and scrap to the east of its building, but the conditional use says no tires or car parts are to be stored outside.
• Residential property owned by Roger Hasvold has old vehicles and campers lined up on it, and someone is reportedly living in a camper at that location.

Pederson said he has looked at a file that goes back 15 years on that property.

The Hasvold property should be declared a nuisance and cleaned up because it has been a problem in the past, too, said Dan Sutton, council president. He said properties should be treated consistently.

Sutton recommended that with Flandreau’s Sesquicentennial anniversary, or 150th birthday, in 2019 and the summer all-school reunion next year, the city should encourage residents and businesses to start cleaning and sprucing up properties this summer.

Pederson said he has received the nuisance complaints since starting his job May 2. He brought up the issue at the May 21 city council meeting to engage in discussion with council members to learn some history on the issue and to get a sense of what the council would support. In the process of declaring properties out of compliance with maintenance standards, the property owner can appeal the issue to the council.

Pederson said he wanted to know how consistent and effective follow-up has previously been to get property owners to comply with city rules. It appears to have been limited, he said. “There needs to be a plan here for how we’re going to approach this again,” he said.

He is confident the ordinances in place are legally workable for now. However, he doesn’t find any area in the ordinances where the city is able to fine residents or foreclose on their property if needed. “I just sense there was support for some stepped up property code enforcement,” he said.

If properties are left to deteriorate, it can become a bigger issue over time than the property owner is able to correct, he said.

“A common thing I’ve seen over the years is some form of abandonment,” he said.