Video interview: Disgruntled Farmers Branch resident wonders what’s happening to her home town

by Mike Bullock, John P. Meyer

Kathy Holmes and her husband have lived in the same house, in the same community, for over 30 years. Now, she's upset at the way the city is treating her.

On its surface, the email we received from disgruntled Farmers Branch resident Kathy Holmes seemed like simply an instance of sour grapes: The gist of it was that she thought the code enforcement branch of city government was ramping up their -- well -- code enforcing to the point where it was becoming oppressive. (At least to her.) Here's an excerpt from her initial note to our editorial desk:

As the city of Farmers Branch has hit a snag trying to get all of the illegal immigrants from "bringing down property values and increasing crime, etc. etc." the city council has now turned on the legal citizens.

At the council's urging, the Code Enforcement folks are out with a vengeance - surely you have heard about the "5 pot rule": no more than 5 decorative items in the front yards - and decorative item is a term that only they are allowed to interpret. My rain barrel fell victim to this rule. Come to think of it, "front yard" is also free for them to interpret, as I cannot find any definitive explanation of what constitutes a front, side, or back yard, and the setbacks (for fencing purposes, etc.) It's like they want you to guess, then you can earn a citation when you guess wrong - and you will.

The city is spending so much time and money counting pots in folk's yards that they cannot afford to support recycling, mosquito spraying, or other worthwhile projects that really would contribute to health, safety and standard of living. Is it any wonder that 3 of the 5 code enforcement personnel don't even live in Farmer's Branch?

Here are the vinyl-upholstered furniture items on Kathy's back porch, which (she thinks) constitute the "prohibited items" referenced in the citation she plans to protest on Sept. 1. (By the way, she makes GREAT sun tea.)

For reference, here is the Code of Ordinances for the City of Farmers Branch. (It's pretty extensive, and -- from a layman's standpoint, anyway -- dense.)

Our first question for Holmes was whether she had personally received a citation for non-compliance to codes. Which, it turns out, she had: On more than one occasion (see illustrations), but only very recently. It seemed to Kathy that this sudden flurry of code violation citations (which she claims are occurring up and down the streets of her residential neighborhood) might have something to do with the city's Proactive Performance-Based Code Enforcement Program, which recently won an award via the Alliance for Innovation, a "hands-on organization that ... work(s) closely with local governments to stimulate innovation."

Here are the criteria under which the Farmers Branch Proactive Performance-Based Code Enforcement Program received an Outstanding Achievement in Local Government Innovation Award:

* ... successfully addressed an important dilemma of public service delivery concerns.

* ... has had a positive impact and tremendous benefit to the community or jurisdiction.

* A quantum leap of creativity.

* The government's commitment and support of bringing the innovation to life.

* Service delivery improvements and/or efficiencies.

* Organizational improvement because of the innovation.

* Tangible effectiveness and results.

One feature that might be thought of as innovative in relation to the Farmers Branch code enforcement program is the ease with which someone -- anyone, really -- can register a code enforcement complaint. It's as easy as navigating to the City of Farmers Branch home page and clicking the text box that says "report a code violation." From there, you can fill out a form and submit it for follow-up by a city code enforcement official.

In the process of responding to one of the citations filed against her, Holmes asked for clarification as to the specifics of the infraction. The code enforcement agent who wrote the citation paid a visit to her property to show her what she'd been cited for; in the process of walking around he discovered -- and cited her for -- another violation. Not the outcome she'd been hoping for, one presumes.

Rain barrel now in the backyard, out of sight of the street

The big blue rain barrel that constituted one of the "excessive number of yard decorations" now resides in her backyard out of sight from the street. But since her property lies on the inside of a curve, and the driveway is unfenced, a good portion of the rear of her property is visible from the street -- which led to the issues with her back porch furniture discussed in the video.

We contacted Farmers Branch Director of Communications Tom Bryson, requesting clarification as to whether 1) the mosquito spraying program is indeed in abeyance, and 2) there is in fact no current curbside recycling service provided by the city. We also wanted to get a confirmation on whether code enforcement efforts were officially being stepped up, or whether Holmes' perceptions of the activity were purely subjective and confined to her situation. Here is the reply we received Wednesday evening from Jim Olk, Building Official for the City of Farmers Branch:

1. The City still sprays for mosquitoes, spraying is done in those areas where the mosquito counts warrant spraying or on a complaint basis.

2. The City halted curbside recycling a little over 5 years ago due to very poor participation. Less than 15% of the residents participated in the program at that time and it was not fiscally responsible to continue the program. The City currently has 3 convenient drop-off locations for recycling. As the economy improves the City will continue to gauge the potential for bringing back curbside recycling.

3. The City has a dynamic proactive code enforcement program. As part of the program the City performs a property condition survey to provide a snap shot of property conditions throughout the city. The results of the survey are mapped through our GIS system and code enforcement resources are dynamically moved to meet changing property conditions. Based multiple factors from the survey; some areas of the City are proactively patrolled 6 times a year, some are patrolled 4 times a year and the minimum amount of proactive patrol is twice annually. During the patrol the code enforcement officer will drive by each property and note any violations that are observed. Correction notices are sent notifying the occupant that the violations are present, corrective actions that need to be taken and when compliance should be obtained. If the occupant needs additional time to comply the telephone number of the code enforcement officer is provided.

The Brookhaven area that you mentioned is a neighborhood that is patrolled only twice annually. It is however one area that we do receive a number of complaints that require our attention. (Another facet of our program is complaint response.) We attempt to investigate complaints the same day they are reported. Currently our average response time is about 1/2 day.

Mike Bullock worked the camera and performed video edit for this story.

david torres, verified:

Farmer's Branch probably has changed the most, in the last 20-30 years. With the property values, going down, etc...

3 years, 8 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

John Meyer, staff:

Jim Olk with the City of Farmers Branch forwarded this photo:

... documenting the Holmes' driveway/backyard at the time a complaint was filed. (It no longer looks like this.)

Says Olk: "This was after we sent multiple notices and visited with them."

3 years, 8 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

strwbarie210, anonymous:

Obviously Ms. Holmes cannot even clean out her own garage without a Farmers Branch city code inspector harassing her for something. Have we so little rights anymore that even our privacy is being attacked? And you would think Farmers Branch would have more serious problems to deal with.. Thanks for the story Bullock and Meyer!

3 years, 8 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

alexander troup, verified:

The old Farmers Branch...Back in the old day's Indian's would massacre the Sheriff and Deputy...for telling them they can eat buffalo...Well it sound like the old petty Farmers Branch today, poor Mrs Holmes, hey... do they even have farmers there any more, I bet it is just transplant rednecks..A/T, ..Transplant Redneck's nest at the F/B.

3 years, 8 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

wislo, anonymous:

I've already heard about this case on Channel 5 News. I like this article a lot. I'm glad that some people, like Ms. Holmes, take the time and the effort to fight against such methods. I think Jim Olk gave away a little too much about the TRUE character of the "proactive code enforcement" methods by posting the given picture as a justification of a violation of everyones private space.

I wouldn't want anyone to watch every single step I'm taking. If you wanted that you might as well sign up for that Big Brother show.

When you google "City of Farmers Branch" You'll find this: http://www.maldef.org/immigration/lit...

And a little later this: http://www.infowars.com/restraining-o...

3 years, 8 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

strwbarie210, anonymous:

Alex - Haha. Good point! But I doubt even Rednecks would want to live in a place where they punish their citizens for having their own opinion on topics as personal as how to decorate one’s own property. And the leaders of Farmers Branch have already tarnished the city’s reputation on a national level by having such similar close-minded views on a wide variety of issues (immigration and illegal aliens, maybe?). It seems like they should rather try to help their citizens by actually spraying for pesky mosquitoes that pose a deadly threat (not by talking of spraying, but by really doing the action of spraying) than whether a person has an eco-friendly rain barrel in their yard.

If the city code enforcers really want to improve the imagine of the city, they should drive by their own city council members’ houses. Living by a council member, I can personally tell you, they don’t even follow their own ludicrous rules.

3 years, 8 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

kholmes, anonymous:

OMG - strwbarie210 is correct - I am in the process of cleaning my garage in this picture! My garage faces north and west, and with the 105 degrees heat reflecting off the concrete it gets very very hot during the day, so I worked in the early morning and late afternoon, staying inside during the hottest portion of the day - when the Code Inspector comes by in his air-conditioned truck to peer into people's yards. So it probably took me 2, maybe 3 days at the most to clean the garage.

THE CODE states that "storage" is leaving things out 7 days or more. I would like to see Mr. Olk's dated photographs showing that my driveway looked like this for 7 days.

For the record - Mr. Olk did not send multiple notices. The "visit" is the one I already talked about - where the Code Enforcement guy came up while I was fixing the fence and informed me that my furniture was not allowed.

If Mr. Olk has to come up with bogus pictures like this to "prove" his point then Farmers Branch is in even worse shape than I thought.

I highly suspect the code enforcement folks didn't even take this picture: the city "encourages" neighbors to turn in neighbors, and I'll bet that the picture was given to him by an anonymous person. This neighborhood does have one guy who loves to cause trouble, and the Report a Violation site makes it sooooooo easy to do.

3 years, 8 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

ch0, anonymous:

Code Enforcement is de debbil!

3 years, 8 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

alexander troup, verified:

Well Cho, from Redneck to Anal enforcement .. I wonder who these people are who make such laws for Farmers Branch,and from where in the first place they come from, while Dallas has a lot of City run folks who are from another city I note,realize and now exspose... while it may be the same there... folks who have lived in Farmers Branch fell from the tree ,while the folks who run such, where did they fail and fall in grace from ......good story....A/T,..You cant fix stupid...

3 years, 8 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

worldoutside, anonymous:

I wish the city of Farmer's Branch could see my neighbor's beautiful yard where we sit and have coffee and company. Oh no, she would get a citation.

Are the people in Farmer's Branch allowed to have children? I see where people have children there are usually play things and even little pools and showers and water slides.

My houseplants, as most plants, do not like city water. Where can I get one of those blue rain barrels? I think a lot of my neighbors would like one.

3 years, 8 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal