County Code Compliance Reminds Residents of Reporting Process
Published on July 01, 2024
Los Alamos County Code Compliance would like to remind residents of their reporting process with the upcoming Fourth of July celebrations and the current summer season. The Code Compliance team enforces the Building Code (Chapter 10), Development Code (Chapter 16), and Nuisance Code (Chapter 18), except where designated to the County Engineer or another official.
From January 1 to June 27, 2024, Code Compliance staff addressed 71 complaint-based cases, including 47 anonymous complaints.
“Each case in the County receives our full attention,” Adrienne Lovato, Management Analyst at Los Alamos County said. “We want to remind residents not all complaints should go directly to Code Compliance, and there are other departments in the County that handle some of these complaints.”
Some of the complaints Code Compliance is not in charge of enforcing include issues related to barking dogs and (because of recent changes to the County Code relating to property maintenance) overgrown weeds on private property. Code Compliance only enforces complaints about trees, plants, shrubs or overgrown vegetation, or any parts thereof, which overhang or extrude into any abutting sidewalk, public right-of-way, planting strip, and clear sight triangle. Residents should direct these concerns to the relevant county departments.
“The Los Alamos County Animal Control Officers respond to all domestic animal complaints” Paul Sena, Animal Shelter at Los Alamos County, said. “You may remain anonymous when reporting, but not on all issues. For example, when submitting a barking log to animal control you can no longer remain anonymous.”
Anonymous complaints reported to Code Compliance are reviewed for violations, but due to the lack of contact information, staff cannot provide follow-up updates. Upon receiving any complaint, Code Compliance staff conduct a site visit, and if a violation is found, a Courtesy Notice is issued. Unresolved violations in the community result in a citation and a Municipal Court appearance.
Residents can report suspected violations online, and if the exact address is unknown, directions from the nearest known address should be provided. Complaints outside Code Compliance’s scope are referred to the appropriate department as needed.
For more information and to view County Codes, visit our lacnm.com/CodeCompliance or contact Adrienne Lovato at adrienne.lovato@lacnm.us.