Development Services: Code Enforcement
The City of Athens is committed to safeguarding the public health, improving the community appearance, and protecting the integrity of neighborhoods. Our goal is to help property owners achieve compliance with the Code of Ordinances through proactive communication and without the issuance of citations.
Common City Code Issues
- High Grass and Weeds
- Debris/Trash in Yards
- Unpermitted Signage
- Junk Vehicles
- Substandard Structures
The Code Enforcement Process
A major aspect of the Code Enforcement process is ensuring that a person or property in violation of the Code recieves proper notification and a suitable amount of time to come into compliance. Generally, the Code Enforcement process follows these steps:
| Reporting | The first step in the process is when the City Receives a report of a code violation or a violation is observed by City staff. At this step a code enforcement case is opened. |
| Notification | The next step will be fore the City to issue a Notice of Violation (NOV). The notice generally gives the property owner or violator ten (10) days to correct the violation. |
| Improvement | Because the City always prefers voluntary compliance, we help violators create and execute an improvement plan. These plans may take time; however we always strive to maintain continued progress toward compliance with the Code. In this step, communication with the City is key. |
| Resolution or Enforcement | Once minimum compliance with the code has been achieved, the code enforcement case is closed out. Alternatively, if the violator or property owner has not communicated an improvement plan to the City and has not demonstrated progress toward compliance, the City will typically issue a citation. |
Help Identify Code Issues
While the City works to proactively identify code violations througout the City, we also rely on citizens notifying our staff of potential code issues. If you suspect that there is a code violaiton within the City of Athens, we encourage you to call our office at 903-677-6615 or email codeenforcement@athenstx.gov.
Be sure to include the address or location, and the nature of the violation.
