CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Those who keep an eagle eye out on the moves of their neighbors may seem like busybodies to some, but Kanawha County Planning Department Director David Armstrong said that many of the complaints these people have drive much of the work his department does.

Armstrong heads the office that deals with code violations across the county, which can range from trash and debris littering someone's yard to a dilapidated and unsafe structure. Many of the calls that he gets in come from disgruntled neighbors.

"Nobody wants to live next door to someone who has a lot of trash and debris. It brings down property values," he said. "I certainly wouldn't want to live next door to these."

The county has 218 open code violations, including four that are being handled in magistrate court.

After being notified about a potential violation, one of the two code-enforcement officers will go to a property, talk to the owner and take pictures of the site.

The department then sends out three notices to a property owner, over  30 days, warning them that they have to clean up their property or they will be taken to magistrate court.

"If they still fail to contact us after then, I guess they think that 'if we don't call, they'll forget about us,' " he said. "But we don't forget."

The process of writing someone up for code violations can take 30 or 40 days before magistrate court is involved, which can tack months onto each  case.

"It's not a 'fix right now,' it's a process," Armstrong said.

Armstrong said he's seen everything from bunches of tires and old bicycles to trash and old car parts littering people's yards.

"They could take it to the recycler and actually make some money out of it and keep their property neat and kempt," he said. "This is someone's yard. They just throw this junk out there. They don't care.

"You drive anywhere in Kanawha County, you're gonna find something that meets the criteria of a code violation."

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Those who keep an eagle eye out on the moves of their neighbors may seem like busybodies to some, but Kanawha County Planning Department Director David Armstrong said that many of the complaints these people have drive much of the work his department does.

Armstrong heads the office that deals with code violations across the county, which can range from trash and debris littering someone's yard to a dilapidated and unsafe structure. Many of the calls that he gets in come from disgruntled neighbors.

"Nobody wants to live next door to someone who has a lot of trash and debris. It brings down property values," he said. "I certainly wouldn't want to live next door to these."

The county has 218 open code violations, including four that are being handled in magistrate court.

After being notified about a potential violation, one of the two code-enforcement officers will go to a property, talk to the owner and take pictures of the site.

The department then sends out three notices to a property owner, over  30 days, warning them that they have to clean up their property or they will be taken to magistrate court.

"If they still fail to contact us after then, I guess they think that 'if we don't call, they'll forget about us,' " he said. "But we don't forget."

The process of writing someone up for code violations can take 30 or 40 days before magistrate court is involved, which can tack months onto each  case.

"It's not a 'fix right now,' it's a process," Armstrong said.

Armstrong said he's seen everything from bunches of tires and old bicycles to trash and old car parts littering people's yards.

"They could take it to the recycler and actually make some money out of it and keep their property neat and kempt," he said. "This is someone's yard. They just throw this junk out there. They don't care.

"You drive anywhere in Kanawha County, you're gonna find something that meets the criteria of a code violation."

Violators stretch across the county, from St. Albans and Malden to Cabin Creek, and Armstrong hears hundreds of complaints a week, sometimes from the same people.

"We've got neighbors out West Washington Street that call in on each other at least once a week," he said. "'So and so is doing this, so and so is doing that. Y'all need to do something.'"

Even more common, Armstrong will talk to people who are calling in violations on their friends.

"I've got one lady who said 'I don't want my neighbor to know I called. We're good friends but I don't know how to tell her she's got to clean up her property,' " he said. "So they try to get the county to do their dirty work."

Armstrong said that as the seasons change, the number of complaints rise.

"As the leaves begin to come off the trees, people are going to see more. In the spring and summer, things are pretty much hidden," he said, "but once those leaves come off people are going, 'Oh my gosh, I'm going to have to look at this all winter long.' "

While the Planning Department's code enforcement officers are allowed to write up a structure they find while driving around in the county, Armstrong said that they're not in the business of doing that right now.

"Right now, we want someone to call us. We are not out there just looking for new code violations," he said. "We have so many cases that we are trying to follow up on that we are in the complaint-driven mode."

About 70 percent of people who are approached by the department about violations take it to heart and clean up on their own, he said.

Unfortunately, not everyone is so easy to work with.

"People will say, 'It's my property and I should be able to do whatever I want,' " Armstrong said. "It is your property, but it's 'No, it's not fair to your neighbors.' "

Reach Kathryn Gregory at kathr...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5119.