A mission to keep housing up to snuff

The property on Riverview's Millpoint Road looks like a war zone.

There's a huge pile of rubble in the front of the lot and a mildew-covered shack in the back, with windows busted out.

In Carrollwood's Country Place, a corner home appears consumed by an oak tree that hasn't been pruned in years.

In pristine Pebble Creek, trash piles and overgrown hedges junk up an otherwise lovely home.

Nobody wins when a home is abandoned.

That's why county officials hope to streamline their so-called property improvement program.

PIP, as the bureaucrats call it, is not new. About five years ago, code enforcement started getting county money to make basic improvements when the owners couldn't or wouldn't do so.

"We're still tweaking the program,'' said department director Dexter Barge.

It works like this:

Once code enforcement hits a dead end after citing the owner for health and safety hazards, a county contractor brings the property up to code.

That might entail removing garbage, mowing, trimming weeds, emptying and securing an old swimming pool, and maybe securing the house against vagrants.

"This year is a lot different than previous years in that there are so many more foreclosed houses on the market,'' Barge said. "There are so many people who have walked away from homes.''

Six cases were headed to a magistrate for approval this week, including the three described above.

A woman living next door to the Country Place house was happy to learn of the program. "We need it, especially me,'' said Gladys Montoya, speaking in Spanish.

She described snakes in the overgrown yard, vermin that have tried to chew holes in her garage overhang, and flies from an untended backyard swimming pool.

"It's causing all of our values to drop,'' she said, adding that she had trouble refinancing her home.

In Pebble Creek, homeowner association president Tanya Heires was thrilled to hear that the county planned to move on the Pebble Glen house.

"I applaud them. I think it's wonderful that we will get some assistance,'' she said. Members have called the home­owners association to complain and "our hands are tied.''

The six cases headed to the magistrate also included a small white home at the end of a country lane in Ruskin, an unsecured house in Palm River and an overgrown lot in a multifamily rental section of Thonotosassa.

While the Riverview property was by far the most dire-looking — "unfit for human habitation,'' according to a code enforcement report — all were clear eyesores.

"There are so many out there, we have to prioritize,'' said Barge, who's trying to speed up the process.

He's working with the county attorney's office "to maybe even come up with a resolution that will allow me, as department director, to make the call to go clean up properties without the lengthy process of a code enforcement hearing.''

Barge does not anticipate a bigger staff, despite the growing need. For now, he's just as happy to eliminate some red tape.

"We need to step out of the box and be creative, to figure out how to do more than less,'' he said.

Marlene Sokol can be reached at (813) 269-5307 or sokol@sptimes.com.