As she walked around the yard, Fairfax County Blight Abatement Coordinator Christine Sadar, assessed the situation. From the looks of the furniture in disrepair on the carport, junk blocking the front door and trash strewn around, it was apparent this house in Mount Vernon was affected by "hoarding," where an owner collected miscellaneous junk through the years until the property became an eyesore.
"All this stuff's going to go. I'm going to work with the homeowner, it could take a long time. She signed a consent order, the house is salvageable," Sadar said.
Soon, a bus from the Fairfax County Sheriff's Department full of inmates pulled up, along with another truck full of lawnmowers and several supporting staff members. It's part of the county's blight abatement program aimed at quality of life issues by cleaning the neighborhoods. First Lt. Stacey Kleiner, chief of the community services branch at the Office of the Sheriff, described their mission.
"We are committed to enhancing the environment and quality of life for the citizens of Fairfax County," she said.
The inmates, she described as "nonviolent, low risk offenders," immediately grabbed rakes and spread out over the yard, cleaning up trash and debris. Sadar took the homeowner aside to see what she wanted to do while the others worked. There was a fire in the house at one time and it was condemned but the owner, who lived near Front Royal, Virginia, stayed in the house the night before. There is no heat but a few space heaters were in operation.
"She was sleeping here last night," Sadar told Kleiner.
The yard work took just over an hour and the next step was to decide what the owner wanted to do with the property. The house next door was up for sale, and from the real estate brochures, it was listed at $375,000. Thomas Overocker, Chief, Department of Housing's Housing Rehabilitation Department, was on site as well.
"They're just going to clear the outside. We're hoping she'll sell it. We could take the property by eminent domain, our objective is to work with the homeowner to resolve the situation," he said.
Working with the homeowner takes a tactful approach and that's where Sadar comes in. She acts as a social worker as well as enforcement.
"I'm going to work with the homeowner, it could take a long time," she said.
THE BLIGHT ABATEMENT program was created in 1996 by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to improve the quality of life around the county as well as help elderly and mentally challenged homeowners resolve their situation with property that has fallen in disrepair, according to information on their website. The program operates through the Department of Housing and Community Development. Since 1996, the program has also fallen into a state of disrepair before Overocker was put in charge and Sadar was moved over from her position with the county police department.
"She and I are just getting the blight program going again," Overocker said.
In order for a property to fall under the definition of blight, they must be vacant or boarded up for at least a year, been the subject of complaints, no longer being maintained for useful occupancy and are in a dilapidated condition or lacks normal maintenance or upkeep, as stated on the website.
Then there is a process which involves referring it to the program, being listed to Housing and Community Development as potentially blighted, inspected, and a background investigation. Contact with the owner is the next step and if it can't be resolved that way, the property is referred to the Neighborhood Enhancement Task Force (NET) to determine if it meets the definition of blight. A plan is then mapped out to resolve the situation.
The Board of Supervisors holds a public hearing and adopts an ordinance declaring the property a nuisance and the plan is carried out through the Housing and Community Development. The owner is charged for the costs of abating the blight, including county staff times and overhead costs.
BLIGHTED PROPERTIES are a countywide problem, and not limited to low income areas. Assistant Fire Marshall Doug Emerson was at the Mount Vernon clean up project and noted another property in Vienna he recently encountered. The property belongs to an 80-year-old man whose wife passed away last year and the yard has been turned into a collecting spot for sporting goods, vehicles and other junk. In addition, there are six vehicles, five of which are fully loaded with stuff.
"If he's got one golf bag, he's got 80 golf bags. I'm working on a warrant. His wife died about a year ago, it's that grieving process," Emerson said.
With someone that age, hoarding could have a historical background.
"When you have people who were raised in the depression era, that's their mindset," Emerson said.
Over in the Crosspointe community in Fairfax Station, there is an abandoned business that's caught the attention of the county blight program. It is on Silverbrooke Road next to a shopping center. Jarod Wilson is a driver at a pizza delivery place next door.
"It's been a vacant building for a couple of years. It's nothing great to look at. If I lived around here I'd probably be upset," he said.
A few doors down at the Hidden Oasis day spa, Doug Webster, owner, looked at the property for his business to expand to a free standing location, "in a dreaming mode," he called it.
He noticed some construction business using the land in 1993 but nothing since. He lives in the Crosspointe community and knows the land values.
"You'd think that the property has a lot of value. In the mean time, it impacts everyone else," he said.
The Mount Vernon property only had two trash dumpsters on the site but Emerson's seen worst.
"We have cleared upward of five dumpsters out of places," he said.
Although there are always hardluck, and sometimes sad stories behind a blighted property, there are some highpoints of the program. It exemplifies teamwork among the various county agencies as well as financial gains, according to Emerson. Individuals from zoning, health, sheriff, fire marshal, housing, public works and police all participate in the program.
"It saves the county a lot of money and provides resources to handicapped and elderly," he said.