CITY INVESTIGATES CODE COMPLAINTS

The white frame house in the 1000 block of South Pacific had been a junk-and-trash-filled eyesore for months.

But after a neighbor filed a formal complaint under Cape Girardeau's new property maintenance code, the owner cleaned it up.

The complaint is one of only seven the city has received since the code was enacted two weeks ago.

The small number of complaints has surprised Rick Murray, who heads up the city's building inspection department.

"I think the ones we have received now are the ones that were long-festering."

He said the city has delayed plans for hiring another inspector while it assesses the volume of complaints.

At this point, Murray is handling all the inspections himself.

Murray said the city is only a final inspection away from wrapping up the case involving the vacant house on South Pacific.

In a written complaint filed on Nov. 23, a neighbor said: "There's junk and trash all over the front and back porches and in the backyard. The inside of the house is full of trash and junk."

The neighbor said the house also had been vandalized. "Kids have spray-painted walls and thrown food all over living room and kitchen."

The neighbor said the basement door was left unlocked.

Murray said the house "needs to be sealed up to keep kids and animals out."

As to the other cases, two involve complaints from tenants, three involve neighbor complaints about vacant structures, and the other involves a neighbor's complaint about an occupied house.

None of the cases have reached the city's Board of Appeals.

The City Council will consider amending the code Monday to limit the participation of the sixth member of the Board of Appeals to cases involving the property maintenance law.

The Board of Appeals currently has five members, but a sixth member is being added in conjunction with the adoption of the property maintenance code.

Since the code took effect on Nov. 17, Murray has fielded inquiries from real estate agents and property owners who have had questions about the new law.

He has told many of them that their properties probably already meet the city code. He insists the city will use common sense in enforcing the code.

Real estate agents, however, say it is too early to tell exactly how the code will be enforced and what impact it might have on sales of older homes and apartment buildings.

Coldwell Banker broker Carl Blanchard said some investors have held off buying properties and others have indicated they may sell their properties rather than risk having to spend thousands of dollars to meet the code.

"We don't want to see an exodus out of the city because of the code," Blanchard said.

Heating, plumbing and air conditioning inspections of buildings traditionally are part of real estate transactions. The buyer pays for the inspections and the seller assumes the cost for any needed repairs.

Those inspections are handled by heating, plumbing and air conditioning companies. Blanchard said those inspections, however, don't guarantee that the building meets the property code.

One company that had been doing such inspections is no longer doing them because of concern about liability under the city's new code, Blanchard said.

But real estate agent Thomas L. Meyer doesn't believe the code will have any major impact on the real estate market.

He views the code as primarily dealing with rental property.

Meyer's firm manages about 150 rental units. "We have no concerns about the code. We take care of our properties," he said.