City steps in to solve stinky apartment complex issue

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Residents on the north side of Houston say they're not happy about the big stink in their neighborhood. Mounds of trash have been growing and they're fed up with the way it looks.

Don't mess with Texas! That's what neighbors are saying about a nearby property that's turned into an illegal landfill.

Mae Dabney and her family have lived in their North Houston home for over 20 years. Over time, she says the vacant property across the street has become a nuisance.

"Apartments have been empty and people are steady dumping. They're dumping quite often," Dabney said.

The area has become a magnet for trash, tires, mattresses, even furniture. So when Dabney's family called the city's 311 line for help, she says they were told the city couldn't do much.

"They said they can't help us because it's private property," she said.

So they turned to Action 13 for help, to see if we could get them answers. The City of Houston tells us they've actually been reviewing these apartments for a while now, and getting the property cleaned up is not a quick fix.

"The procedure is we must notify the owners first," said Gregory Mackey with the Department of Neighborhoods.

Mackey says the city has encountered difficulty in contacting the owners to serve proper notice.

"We have a majority property owner that the city's representatives have been trying to get to bring the property in compliance," he said.

Mackey tells us they were finally able to reach that majority property owner, and gave them a deadline to address the code violations.

"The owner has given a verbal promise at least to come in and fence off the property and clean up all of the trash, the weeds, the nusences and that sort of thing," Mackey said.

The city tells us the majority owner has until midnight, this Friday to bring the property in compliance. If that deadline is missed, the city will then review the case and take the next steps to enforce the property is brought up to code.