County commissioners voted today to begin litigation against two homeowners living on Funk Road who have refused repeated requests to clean up their property.
Located in eastern El Paso County, Funk Road has long been an eyesore and irritant to both nearby residents and county officials. The land located on either side of the road was once part of a vast cattle operation but decades ago the property was carved up and sold off.
New owners moved in and opened salvage operations, tire dumps, automotive repair shops. Over time, some homeowners accumulated thousands of used tires, hundreds of mobile homes, dozens of vehicles, and a bewildering array of household items.
The county began taking action against various homeowners as far back as 1985. After zoning regulations were imposed in 1999, the enforcement activities increased.
Litigation will begin against two Funk Road residents: Jose Noriega, who owns property at 35115 Funk Road and is alleged to have 30-plus dwellings on his premises, and Mike Murphy, who lives at 36350 Funk Road, and has accumulated trash and rubbish on his property and has failed to screen his inoperable vehicles.
In an interview last fall, Murphy said that he was in poor health and couldn’t clean up his property without help. Nor did he have the money to rent an industrial-sized dumpster that he would need to clean up his yard.
County Attorney Bill Louis said the county tries hard to work with residents before resorting to court action. “Putting people in jail is not our idea of a good time,” he said. ” With that said, we don’t back down from a fight.”
The county needs needs to look at the garbage dumped along the creeks of Monument, Fountain & Cottonwood , plus the Human Feces polluting the water.
http://www.krdo.com/global/video/popup/pop_player.asp?ClipID1=4439435&h1=Sanitation%20Problems%20at%20Homeless%20Camps&vt1=v&at1=News&d1=114167&LaunchPageAdTag=News&activePane=info&playerVersion=1&hostPageUrl=http%3A//www.krdo.com/Global/story.asp%3FS%3D11782582%26nav%3Dmenu552_1_1%23&rnd=90793017
See news clip
Very sad, this is not the function of the County. Let people live in peace, especially ones that live that far out of the metro area. My tax dollars should not be used to harass people.
Some cidiot complained enough and got a yuppy puppy to write an article. Hey, why not just kill Murphy and be done with it? These people were there long before the ‘neighbors’ bought their property and started complaining.
It seems to me that a couple of dozen low-security jail inmates could rectify this situation in no time and would probably appreciate a few days in the sun while doing it. If the only problem is that the homeowners can’t afford the clean-up then I don’t see a problem that can’t be easily solved. Outside the box thinking.
Don’t you know about the bigots in the springs that hate everyone that doesn’t live in a rabbit warren like they do. They’ll even drive 40 miles out in the country to discriminate against people that are living peaceful lives and bothering noone.
There isn’t any violent crime out on Funk Road but the cidiots would like to have some out there so they can feel equal to the people that live in civil society. They don’t have lives and are jealous of those that do.
We’re broke and they are starting litigation?? They can’t afford to snow plow our road but they can afford going to court to take away a property owners rights??? Where does it end?????????????????
Apparently even County Commissioners will violate so-called property rights if the mess gets bad enough. It just goes to show you that there are limits to what people can do with their property.
All they have to do is claim they’re homeless, and they’ll be left alone… unless they frequent one of the Gentleman’s clubs in town…
I agree with the County when a fire happens out there and the local Fire Department can not handle it. It becomes the County issue to deal wih the Fire and clean up. If they have a lot of tires and old cars can you think of the cost to clean up this Haz-mat. If that gets into the water table how many people will that affect.
Property owners have rights but I think when they start to or could have a greater cost to the entire County the County should act quick to get this cleaned up. If not money saved now could be a lot more when they are required to clean up after a fire.
William:
Another cidiot.
You brought it up;so, what if the city impound lot catches fire?
Nothing but old card,trucks and tires in there and creeks close buy.
The closest creek to Funk Road’s about 20 miles and the water table (as you call it instead of aquifer) starts at about 500′ in that area.
Most of the houses in CS wouldn’t pass code enforcement but they worry about a couple of people that aren’t bothering anybody and few people could find them without the Gazette’s help with a map.
Cidiots imposing their lifestyle on everyone else because they don’t have a life.
Range war.
Not sure what happened out there last weekend, but the property on the south side of the road burnt up. My neighbor told me the fire department did it. One hell of a fire, when I drove by, at least two mobile home were toast, and all that garbage was in ashes.
This could lead to the forced clean up of the tramp camps. If you can screw with private property owners than the city is fully venerable. The county can and will be sued to as the city is in the county. Lets waste some money. As for all you city cr@p don’t come past powers. $100 bet the hoe who started this is not a county commissioner next election.