Spanish Fork goes after owners of unkempt yards

SPANISH FORK — Corene Elliott says she would like to see something done about the house with an unkempt yard across the street from her home, and wonders whose responsibility it is.

"The grass and weeds are knee high," she said Tuesday, after complaining to the City Council. "It's an embarrassment."

Spanish Fork Police Chief Dee Rosenbaum wrote down the address to be sure the homeowner received notice to clean it up. More than 600 property owners have been given notice to take care of their yards in the last four weeks, an apparent fallout from the recession.

Many of the overgrown lots have homes on them that were apparently abandoned when the owners couldn't pay their mortgages or the banks foreclosed on the properties.

Contract crews are now making the rounds to cut the grass and clear weeds for homeowners who ignored the notices, Rosenbaum said. The bill for clearing the lots is added to the owner's property taxes if it goes unpaid under a city nuisance ordinance. Most owners usually pay up, City Attorney Junior Baker said.

The worst offenders are the banks that now own the homes, he said.

"They don't seem to care," he said. "We have seen an increase (in abandoned homes) in the last two years."

Weeds and tall grass are the chief complaints now, Rosenbaum said, but as time goes on they become cluttered with other abandoned items. Code enforcement officers are also contacting homeowners who are still living in their homes, but not taking care of their yards, he said.

Elliott has lived in her home, in an older section of Spanish Fork, near Center and 500 South, since 2006. The neighborhood is usually neat and tidy, she told the Deseret News.

"The rest of us have pride in our yards," she said.

e-mail: rhardy@desnews.com