By Staff
The Escambia County Commission has held its first hearing in its ongoing efforts to enforce an ordinance designed to keep our county clean.
The commission’s enforcement of the ordinance — which prohibits trash and junk declared a nuisance from being on property in the county — is an important step to protect all of us.
Not only does the ordinance address the asthetic aspects of keeping the county clean, it also makes sure that areas that could cause harm to residents are kept cleaned up. Imagine if you had a virtual junkyard in your yard that collected water, allowing mosquitoes to breed.
The ordinance provides a fair procedure for addressing problems with property owners. An enforcement officer makes visits and serves notice, and a property owner has every opportunity to appear at the hearing.
After Monday’s hearing, the commission gave a property owner 30 days to clean up the nuisance before a fine will be imposed.
This procedure is certainly fair to property owners, but it also puts some teeth in the county’s enforcement of its ordinance, which is in place to protect all of us.
While we hope that similar cases will bee cleaned up before they get to the hearing stage, we’re glad to see the county following through on these problems.