Logansport officials want to determine a way to more effectively enforce rules on commercial garages.
Arin Shaver, executive director of the Logansport/Cass County Planning Department, discussed it with city council members and plan commission members Monday, March 12.
A Google Maps search brings up 18 commercial garages in Logansport, she said.
"I have 18 in my noncompliance list, so I know there's more than that actually out there," she added.
They're committing violations like storing vehicles in rights of way and on grass, not keeping vehicles behind some kind of screened barrier, keeping vehicles for too long, having more vehicles than what are allowed and leaving wrecked vehicles out to take parts from them, Shaver said.
Almost all of the city's commercial garages have needed to get special exceptions through the city's board of zoning appeals to start the business because the areas they're in are so different, Shaver explained. The board of zoning appeals has established different requirements each has to follow, she continued.
When a violation of one of those requirements arises, Shaver said her department contacts the offending commercial garage and it often quickly gets back into compliance.
"And then the next time you look, it's back to the way it was," Shaver said. "What are we going to do about that? It's continual."
The planning department's small staff and other responsibilities make rule enforcement difficult to carry out, Shaver said.
Shaver said she researched other communities like Frankfort and Peru, both of which she said use code enforcement staff to enforce rules that keep commercial garages in line. She added she wasn't suggesting Logansport's code enforcement officer take on the additional responsibility, adding he already has a heavy workload.
"I'm trying to say enforcement and maintenance in our community would make a world of difference for our whole community," she said. "More regulation? I don't think that's needed, it's the enforcement part."
Logansport City Councilman Terry Doran suggested tasking police officers with the responsibility. Shaver said the rules commercial garages are breaking currently fall under the city's zoning ordinance and police officers would only be able to enforce them if they were included in the city's municipal code.
Shaver said she intends to do more research on communities that enforce such rules through their municipal codes and draft potential language that could be added to Logansport's municipal code. She indicated officials will meet again on the matter in the future.
After determining what the city's new enforcement policy will be, Doran suggested giving commercial garages several months to correct any violations before enforcement begins.