Perry Ealim, of Pasadena, said he and many other Anne Arundel residents are at the mercy of overzealous and uninformed property inspectors with no recourse for appeal.
“You can make a law as good as you want, but with bad enforcement, there’s always going to be problems,” Ealim told the County Council this week.
Now residents can send their complaints about permits and zoning enforcement to an ombudsman overseeing the Inspections and Permits Department, under a new proposal from County Executive John R. Leopold.
“I want to ensure since there are new regulations and laws … I feel an obligation to provide greater assistance to citizens who are confronted with new … procedures,” Leopold said Friday.
The ombudsman also would direct confused residents seeking help on the permitting and inspection process, he said.
Problems with inspectors and the permitting process have been an issue in Anne Arundel long before the ombudsman position came as a recommendation in Leopold’s transition report when he took office in 2006.
The issue came to a head this week when dozens of residents wearing red T-shirts with the slogan “Stop the Zoning Gestapo” packed the County Council chamber, mainly to protest efforts to protect the county’s shorelines but also to vent about inconsistent application of laws and predatory behavior by inspectors.
“We need a people’s advocate in the inspector’s office,” said Fred Lebert, of Pasadena, one of the dozens of protesters.
Leopold said he spoke with the county’s 70 inspectors Friday about customer service issues. Though he pointed to a task force report that found few errors in the permitting process, “one mistake is too many, and we must have consistency in the law.”
The ombudsman will report yearly to the county executive and the County Council, but will work daily with the inspections department to quell problems, Leopold said.
But even with a new outlet for customer complaints, Leopold still plans to move forward with tightening the laws regarding those seeking retroactive permits after violating the critical-area law that protects environmentally sensitive areas, including shorelines.
Leopold said Friday new legislation may allow for more negotiating between violators and the county over the controversial consent decree, which homeowners opposed, as it would leave little in the way of an appeals process.
The council must approve the ombudsman.
“It’s not a cure-all, but citizens are frustrated and this is a least a good start,” said Councilman Ron Dillon Jr., R-Pasadena.
