Hoarder's Junk Lot to be Cleared by Tom Green County Authorities

You could call it house, but chances are, you won’t be able to spot it unless you’re looking hard, as mounds and heaps of utter junk and scraps block all view to the domicile. It appears as if Christoval has its own scrap yard right smack dab in the center of a residential neighborhood, but the reality is that a neat and modest house once stood on the lot where the hoarder’s paradise now lies.

“It took him about five years to do this,” said Precinct 4 Constable Randy Harris, motioning to an expanse of junk piled as high as the dilapidated fence that surrounds it in broken parts. “Those signs are actually there for him,” he says, pointing to No Trespassing and Private Property placards stapled onto logs and tree stumps. The neighbors had to put up the signs as a last defense against Louis Moore’s growing pile of rubbish.

For over a year, authorities have been dealing with the impromptu junkyard, taking complaints from aggravated neighbors and giving warning after warning that the junk must be cleaned up, however lacking appropriate legislation, their legal hands have been tied.

“There was always the state law in place where we could go [cite him for public nuisance], but the county had never adopted policies pursuant to [that] section…of the Public Health and Safety Code,” says Harris, explaining that the particular section in question allows authorities to go in and physically clear the property themselves should the owner not comply, a process known as abatement.

Whether or not to adopt the abatement code has always been left up to the counties to decide, and up until recently, Tom Green County had opted out. After authorities began receiving complaints on numerous properties like Moore’s, the County decided to act.

“The abatement law was passed in September of this year,” says Harris. “I was made administrator over the nuisance abatement program for this year.”

Each year, the administrator will change, however the process of abatement is one simple rule to follow: when a property is identified as a nuisance under the terms of law, the owner of that property will be issued a notice in which he has 31 days to either appeal or begin clearing the area.

If after 31 days no forward progress has been made and no response has been received, the County may come in and clear it themselves at the cost of the property owner.

In Moore’s case, authorities will be tentatively stepping in on the 23rd of this month. “They will go in and clean off all the trash and debris off the property and have it discarded,” says McGill. “Then, whatever cost they incur, including…any costs for dumpsters will be assessed against the property in form of a lien.”

The estimated sum for the clearing of Moore’s property is between $3-4,000. The house will also be demolished and a vacant lot will remain where the junk heaps once stood.

Moore will then be responsible for the costs of clean up, either up front or at a 10% interest rate per year that the debt remains open.

The case at 4434 Anson St. in Christoval is just one of many that the County is working to rectify at the moment. There are currently circa 15 cases within the county, and Harris says those fall in about a 50-50 split between Grape Creek and Christoval.