Document text
Grants Pass cracks down on nuisance properties Monday Dec 26, 2016 at 10:34 AM Dec 26, 2016 at 10:34 AM Troy Shinn Grants Pass Daily Courier A recently approved chronic nuisance ordinance in Grants Pass has officially been used by the Department of Public Safety to board up its first property. The house at 722 S.W. K St., previously the subject of a report in the Daily Courier, long has been a thorn in the neighborhood's side and now is the first to be addressed using the ordinance. The chronic nuisance ordinance, approved by the City Council in October, allows the city to crack down on properties that frequently cause problems for neighbors, police and code officers. A property is considered a chronic nuisance if it has three or more violations within a 30-day period, four or more within 90 days, or five or more within a year. The K Street property has frequently popped up on the police scanner as a hotbed of drug and squatter activity. Daily Courier records indicate that the house showed up on hundreds of calls over the course of the past several years. Police say drug users frequent the house, which was foreclosed on by a Florida-based mortgage servicing company called Ocwen Financial. This has caused problems for neighbors and police, who frequently have to deal with the wandering users and the messes they leave behind. Police Lt. Todd Moran says that the ordinance allowed the department to take out a temporary restraining order on the house, which bars anyone from occupying, using or entering the property. The order was approved in Josephine County Circuit Court on Dec. 6 and the property was boarded up shortly thereafter. "This ordinance has already proven to be an effective tool for those who need it," Moran said. These temporary restraining orders are good for a couple of weeks, and police can use them to enter the property, clear it out and board it up. Police are in the process of applying for a long-term restraining order for the property that can last up to a year. Police are responsible for keeping track of all the court costs associated with applying for these orders, which are then applied as a lien on the property. The hope is that liens will provide more incentive for the banks that own these houses to actually do something about them, maybe fix them up and try to sell them to more desirable tenants. "We have to deal with the banks directly whenever liens or violations are put on these properties, but Ocwen has been by far the most difficult as far as taking action," Moran said. Attempts to contact Ocwen for comment were unsuccessful. While police have had a couple of issues with squatters still trying to get into the house or park RVs on the property, having it boarded up has already been a good thing for the neighborhood. Neighbors say crime is down, and with the house boarded up, transients are going elsewhere. Moran said that police are eyeing other properties to be next in line for the chronic nuisance ordinance. Reach reporter Troy Shinn at 541-474-3806 or [email protected].