Starting today, city code enforcement teams will be inspecting residences in Trinity Park neighborhood for housing code violations. The citywide inspections program, announced Jan. 15 and originally slated to begin last week, was postponed after a severe winter storm hit the region Jan. 25.
During the inspections campaign, code enforcement teams will walk through Durham's older, inner-city neighborhoods to identify exterior code violations. Given residents' permission, the teams will conduct interior inspections as well.
Reginald Goodson, associate director of Housing and Community Development and program coordinator, said inspections will occur once a week for the first six weeks and once a month for the remainder of the six months alotted for each neighborhood. Inspections in Trinity Park should conclude around the beginning of August.
Although inspections did not officially begin in Trinity Park until today, a number of Trinity Park residents reported receiving mysterious letters--from a fictional organization, Trinity Park Neighbors for a Better Neighborhood--pointing out various "violations" on their properties.
David Smith, president of Trinity Park Neighborhood Association, said many of the letters cite "violations" that are not applicable to the city's current inspections campaign. Both he and Goodson were unsure if the letters were a form of aid or sabatoge, but both stressed that the letters did not come from the city.
Goodson said real notification of inspections will be on official city letterhead and will be signed by a city employee. Inspectors will have City of Durham identification.
Some residents of neighborhoods off East Campus have expressed concern that the inspections will be an invasion of privacy, as inspectors will be able to obtain administrative warrants to enter without residents' permission if they have cause to believe a violation exists within the dwelling. "I'm trying to assure the citizens that the program is being implemented to benefit, not harm, citizens," Goodson said.
He noted that his message seems to be getting through to residents, with about 95 percent of responses from Trinity Park, Trinity Heights and Walltown neighborhood residents coming back positive. "A lot of people feel this is well overdue," Goodson said.
Smith and Risa Foster, president of the Trinity Heights Neighborhood Association, said they have heard similar feedback from residents in the affected neighborhoods.
"People don't think the city's approach is a draconian violation of private space," Smith said. "Everyone understands that the city has a broad responsibility to ensure that housing is up to code, and there's a further understanding that what the city intends to do is what is dictated by the law."
Both Smith and Foster said residents of Trinity Park and Trinity Heights will have little to fret over once inspections begin because homeowners in the two neighborhoods tend to maintain their properties. They acknowledged, however, that enforcement of the zoning law prohibiting three unrelated people from living in a single-family dwelling could be of particular interest to absentee landlords, renters and homeowners who live near rental properties.
"A number of students are worried and apprehensive about this," Foster said. She added, however, that she did not believe the current campaign would focus closely on occupancy codes. Foster noted that Trinity Heights is not scheduled to be inspected until late summer.
Frank Duke, director of the Planning Department, said occupancy limits make up only a miniscule portion of the city's zoning issues. In his two years on the job, the Planning Department has issued only one citation for a violation of occupancy codes. In all, he said, his department issues hundreds of citations every year for other violations.
Duke noted that it is often difficult to issue citations for residents who are in violation of maximum occupancy codes. The city must first obtain proof of a violation--a step Duke said was often dependent upon occupants' cooperation. "The neighborhoods surrounding the university campuses have been very critical of the Planning Department because they say we have not enforced the law and that we routinely allow violations we know of to continue," Duke said. "My response is that we may have a suspicion of a violation, but we have to have more than a vague suspicion to take action."
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