MILTON — Santa Rosa County's 2015-2016 annual report includes the year’s code compliance violations.
Notable are 485 zoning violations, 410 more than the second-highest violation. Randy Jones, with the county’s code compliance department, shares his thoughts on the issue.
Is this number normal?
That number (485) is pretty close for the past three years. Zoning is by far the biggest number. It's several types of violations we put under that category.
What are typical violations?
These are derelict vehicles, junk and litter, fence height, livestock, home occupations, mobile homes without skirting. Some would be on the commercial side, like site plan violations. For example, if a builder constructs an accessory building without site plan approval it is a violation, as well as not maintaining landscaping. If trees die, you have to replant them.
Will this number go down?
We try to get voluntary compliance. We say, ‘You need to fix this. If you don’t, then we write a citation.’ Now, instead of going to court, you go to the magistrate. It’s much more user-friendly in that we, the county, control the calendar and don’t have to wait on the court system. If we get more proactive, which is what's wanted, particularly in more urban areas like Navarre and Pace, people in those areas want more code enforcement. We still try to be nice but more proactive. We don't mean we’ll go wild, but expect that number to go up in the next few years because of that, if nothing else.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Zoning issues top county code violations