Roswell woman claims neighbor turned yard into junkyard

ROSWELL, Ga. — A Roswell homeowner says junk cars and trash on a neighbor’s property are driving down the value of her own property.

Carrie Moss contacted Channel 2’s Mike Petchenik because she said Roswell city code enforcement did not do enough to clean up her neighbor’s property on Monivea Lane.

“Over two years ago, the renters caddy corner to me have been increasingly letting trash pile up in their yard, letting their aggressive dogs run at large, parking junked cars in the grass,” Moss said.

Moss took pictures to document the issues, which show several cars parked in the home’s driveway.

When Petchenik and a photographer went to the home Monday, they could see a tent pitched on the driveway with several household items underneath it.

“I’ve called, I’ve emailed and every time an enforcement officer comes out they do a lot of handshaking and that’s the end of it,” Moss said.

A city spokeswoman emailed Petchenik a timeline that shows the first complaint was made in June 2013 about tires on the property. Julie Brechbill said the city issued a notice of violation to the renter and he resolved the issue.

In January 2014, the city issued another violation notice about cars on jacks in the front yard.  Brechbill said the renter resolved the issue so no citation was given.

A month later, Moss complained again about a car on jacks in the yard, but the city didn’t issue a citation because Brechbill said the car’s owner said the starter went out and he would be moving the car to a shop.

In March 2014, another complaint was filed about a commercial vehicle parked in the street. The city issued a notice of violation, and Brechbill said the owner fixed the problem within 24 hours.

Brechbill said the renter will have an Aug. 14 court hearing stemming from a June complaint about him working on cars in the front yard.

“It’s just driving down property values,” Moss said.  “We’re all suffering.”

Petchenik spoke to the man renting the home, who chalked up the situation to a nosy neighbor with an axe to grind.

“We’re remodeling the garage, and that’s all it is,” said Mike Wineland.  “She complains about every last little thing to everybody around here.”

Wineland said he fixes classic cars as a hobby.

“We have a garage on up north of here, so that’s where we do all of our work,” he said.

Wineland denies he is using his property as an auto repair shop and said he will fight the recently issued city citation.

Brechbill said code enforcement didn’t cite Wineland until a year after the complaints started because he complied with the requests each time prior.

“The City has a process we follow when there are code violations in the city. It is the same process for everyone,” she said in an email.  “The objective of code enforcement in Roswell is to obtain voluntary compliance. We give our residents the opportunity to comply first. It they do not, then we issue a citation.”

Moss told Petchenik she hopes the citation will put a stop to what she calls an eyesore.

“Let these people move on to a place that’s more suitable for them,” she said.

WSBTV