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Appearance Issues in OWD

A Who-to-Contact Guide

Citizens recently rated appearance, cleanup, and beautification as a very important (78.9%) or important (21.1%) Durham community priority. While unscientific, the poll indicates that residents do care about the issue.

Several city and county agencies deal with this issue, but one is at its epicenter—the City of Durham Housing and Community Development Department´s Code Enforcement Division.

Inspectors from the DHCD Code Enforcement Division are at the forefront of a number of concerns—from making sure that the inside of the residential housing is up-to-standard, is habitable, and meets code to correcting external problems that threaten the health or diminish the value of a neighborhood (such as exterior and grounds littered with graffiti, trash, or debris, unkempt or weedy yards, abandoned vehicles, and illegal dumping of oils or other hazardous materials).

Residents or businesses can call and report concerns and issues for investigation. Violations result in citations for Community Life Court if not remedied.

Richard Valzonis, Assistant Director for Code Enforcement
rvalzonis@ci.durham.nc.us 560-4570 (ext. 226)

Gray Dawson, Field Supervisor
gdawson@ci.durham.nc.us 560-4570 (ext. 231)

Inspector for Old West Durham and surrounding neighborhoods:
Larry Rochelle
lrochelle@ci.durham.nc.us 560-4570 (ext. 232)

courtesy of the Durham Convention & Visitors Bureau