Last year, Richmond code enforcers issued property owners more than 4,000 notices of violation for failing to safely maintain their buildings, letting grass grow more than a foot high or accumulating trash and broken-down cars. 

The biggest offenders? Property owners in Northside’s District 3, who racked up almost 900 violations, and District 6, which runs in a narrow band from the eastern side of Northside down through Manchester and got about 700. (See a map of Richmond’s districts here.)

On the other end of the compliance spectrum were Districts 1 and 4 in the western and southwestern parts of the city, which each got fewer than 200 violations in 2024. 

Citywide, more than half of the violations were classified as environmental, meaning they dealt with problems like out-of-control vegetation and piles of trash or other junk. Over 1,000 were due to building maintenance problems, while 308 were for structures classified as unsafe. 

The vast majority of the problems were resolved, according to data provided by Planning Department Director Kevin Vonck to a City Council committee earlier this week. Of 7,540 cases closed by code enforcement last year, only 324 concluded with a finding of noncompliance. 

“The code inspectors for Mr. Vonck’s department have told me that if they issue 100 notices of violation, over 90 of them people are going to comply with,” said Deputy City Attorney Greg Lukanuski, who deals with blight issues in Richmond. “It’s that other less than 10 that we’re dealing with in court.” 

Vonck, though, cautioned that compliance with city codes may not mean a property is transformed into something magazine-worthy. 

“Minimum standards for building code and environmental code may not always be at the same level as neighborhood expectations,” he said. “Minimum building code is not pretty. It’s not beautiful. But it is safe.” 

While Vonck acknowledged that much of the work the city’s 28 to 32 inspectors do is “reactive and responsive,” he noted Richmond has convened daytime and nighttime enforcement teams to more proactively address clusters of problems. Those groups include representatives of the city’s fire and police departments, the local health district and the finance office, in addition to code enforcement. 

Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards said the investigative skills and resources police have can be helpful in addressing problems like illegal tire dumping and other code violations. 

But while the Richmond Police Department previously had four environmental officers dedicated to assisting with code enforcement in each of the city’s four precincts, retirements have brought that number down to one. Edwards said he hopes to build out the team again so that RPD had at least one environmental officer on each side of the river, but acknowledged that with a 20% vacancy rate, “there is a bandwidth issue.” 

Still, he said, “I do think it is a very important program. It does help deal with some of the issues that don’t rise to the level of violent crime, but they do contribute to violent crime.” 

Contact Reporter Sarah Vogelsong at svogelsong@richmonder.org