To: Honorable Mayor and Members of Town Council
Through: David L. Corliss, Town Manager
From: Mike Hyman, Town Attorney
Tara Vargish, PE, Director, Development Services
Title
Ordinance Adopting a New Chapter 8.01 and Amending Various Sections of the Castle Rock Municipal Code to Address Public Nuisances in the Town of Castle Rock (First Reading)
Body
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Executive Summary
Staff is requesting Town Council approval on first reading of an ordinance adopting a new Chapter 8.01 and amending related provisions of the Castle Rock Municipal Code concerning public nuisances. The ordinance establishes a clear nuisance inspection, notice, protest, abatement, and cost-recovery process while retaining the Town's emphasis on education, cooperation, and voluntary compliance.
Castle Rock has historically emphasized education, cooperation, and voluntary compliance when enforcing the Code. That philosophy has served the Town well and remains the foundation of the proposed ordinance. However, as the community has matured and neighborhoods have aged, staff has experienced an increasing number of chronic nuisance properties where years of outreach, notices, assistance, and even Municipal Court action have failed to achieve compliance.
The current Code does not provide a clear administrative process for the Town to resolve these long-standing nuisance properties when every other enforcement tool has been exhausted. The proposed nuisance code establishes a fair, transparent, and legally defensible process that preserves due process for property owners while providing the Town with the authority to abate chronic nuisance conditions and recover associated costs when voluntary compliance cannot be achieved.
The ordinance also consolidates and updates nuisance-related provisions concerning unsafe trees and shrubs, weeds and rubbish, construction waste and refuse containers, noise remedies, junked vehicles, and zoning enforcement. These coordinated amendments make the Code easier to administer and provide consistent cross-references to the new Chapter 8.01.
The ordinance provides a transparent and legally defensible final enforcement tool for chronic nuisance conditions after reasonable efforts to obtain voluntary compliance have been exhausted.
Please see the attached Staff Memorandum for the full discussion.
Staff Recommendation
Staff recommends that Town Council approve the public nuisance ordinance on first reading.
The ordinance preserves Castle Rock's long-standing emphasis on voluntary compliance while establishing a clear process for the limited number of chronic nuisance cases that remain unresolved after education, assistance, notices, and traditional enforcement efforts.
Proposed Motion
“I move to approve the Ordinance as introduced by title.”
Alternative Motions
“I move to approve the Ordinance as introduced by title, with the following conditions: (list conditions).
“I move to continue this item to the Town Council meeting on (date) to allow additional time to (list information needed).”
Attachments
Staff Memorandum
Attachment A: Summary of Titles 4, 6, 8, 9, 10 and 17 Code Amendments
Attachment B: Ordinance - Chapter 8 Public Nuisance Code Update