Englewood reports 582 July code cases ahead of vacancy discussion

Englewood recorded 582 code-compliance and park-related cases in July, including 384 that required an enforcement action, according to the July statistics and Code Compliance Advisory Committee agenda. The committee is scheduled to discuss residential vacancies Aug. 19, but the agenda does not include a vacancy count, locations, causes or a proposed policy change.

The enforcement total includes 319 posting notices, 28 notices of violation, 23 summonses and 14 warnings. The city reported 2,440 cases year to date.

The statistics use overlapping or differently scoped categories. Method-of-initiation labels total 694 — including 580 officer-initiated cases, 71 citizen-initiated cases, 38 from dispatch, three from the Police Department and two from a city employee — exceeding the 582 monthly cases. The report does not explain the discrepancy.

Case-type categories also include nested subcategories. The report lists 422 code-compliance cases, including 243 grass-and-weeds cases, along with 80 animal-control cases and separate right-of-way and park categories. Those subcategories should not be added to the broader totals without further explanation.

Park figures are also inconsistent: “Park Violations” totals 199, while “Total for Parks” totals 208. The latter includes two warnings, 20 summonses and 186 other cases. The report does not explain the nine-case difference.

The city listed 347 cases as closed in July. A subsection titled “Case Status (Closed)” accounts for 308, including 217 marked “In Compliance,” 43 handled as “Public Relations,” 24 referred and eight with summonses pending. Labels listed elsewhere — 16 “Unfounded,” nine “UTL/UTC” and 14 “Warning Issued” — bring the total to 347, but their placement is unexplained.

For limited historical context, an official March 2026 committee packet reported 168 cases in January and 133 in February, or 301 year to date through February. July’s total is higher than either monthly figure, but the available records do not provide a complete, comparable series or show whether reporting practices changed. A separate 2025 statistics packet uses a different format and does not support a year-over-year comparison.

The municipal code defines private premises to include residential property that is temporarily or continuously uninhabited or vacant. It lists deterioration, unsafe occupancy, rodent infestation, trespasser access, inadequate maintenance and harm to nearby property among factors relevant to nuisance and property-maintenance enforcement. Those provisions establish the legal framework, not conditions the committee has confirmed.