Gerald Schmitz spent two months in jail and racked up thousands in fines defending his right to keep his stuff — an estimated 150 old cars, boats and snowmobiles scattered across his Shakopee acreage.
Slapped with property code violations, Schmitz, 72, has fought the city for six years, arguing his property rights trump the city's efforts to battle residential blight.
Partly because of cases like Schmitz's, some Twin Cities suburbs such as Shakopee are becoming more proactive in cracking down on code violators. It's one of suburbia's most contentious issues, often pitting neighbor against neighbor and residents against City Hall.
"The number one thing that will make an elected official's phone ring, honestly, is a code issue," said Shakopee Police Chief Jeff Tate.
City officials are taking a variety of approaches, from cracking down with abatement orders, civil fines and citations to encouraging residents to fix their problems through city-sponsored loan programs.
Shakopee has stepped up enforcement, hiring its first code inspector last year and switching from a complaint-based system to an enterprising one.
In the inspector's first year, the city has handled 127 more residential code violations than before, according to Tate. Most code violations are settled with a simple warning, he said, but so far this year the police have issued 44 more tickets than in all of 2018.
Roseville code enforcement staffers inspect half the city each year through the Neighborhood Enhancement Program, sending out letters to residents who aren't compliant. The city opened 454 code violation cases last year, and most were resolved quietly.