ASHLEY TERRY
As social media complaints continue to “pile up” over the city of Azle’s Stormwater Leaf Abatement program, city officials are now hoping a more detailed explanation about the ordinance will help residents “turn over a new leaf.”
CITY CITATION CHAOS
Back in December, area Facebook groups flooded with posts from residents who had received correction notices stating that an inspection of their properties had revealed them to be in violation of section 8.02.003 of the city of Azle’s Code of Ordinances. The Prohibited Conditions ordinance states that “a person commits an offense if the person allows a nuisance to exist on real property owned or occupied by the person.” For purposes of this section, nuisance means “accumulation of refuse, rubbish, garbage, filth, carrion, scrap or junk that creates an unsanitary condition likely to attract or harbor mosquitoes, rodents, vermin or disease-carrying pests.”
According to the correction notices, an accumulation of leaves needed to be removed from these properties — either by being bagged up and placed at the curb or mulched with a lawnmower — by a deadline of Dec. 26. The notices also stated that failure to comply could result in a written citation with associated fees, court costs and a court appearance.
Many residents voiced frustration about these notices, stating that the deadline was too strict — especially when “leaves haven’t finished falling yet” — and complained that their bags of leaves wouldn’t be picked up in a timely manner by Community Waste Disposal.
RAKING THROUGH RULES
During the Azle City Council meeting Jan. 20, officials addressed the topic at length, with Planning and Development Director David Hawkins explaining the reasoning behind the enforcement.
“There were a lot of questions and concerns about the recent complaints received on leaves being picked up by the code enforcement department,” Hawkins said. “I know that for the last month-and-a-half, there was a series of questions that city council was getting, so I kind of put together an informational packet.”
According to Hawkins’ packet, the stormwater division of the public services department oversees the day-to-day activities that may affect the quality of surface groundwater within the city of Azle. The department also monitors for and tries to prevent improper discharge of contaminated stormwater runoff — like leaves — from industrial, commercial, residential and construction sites into the municipal separate storm sewer system and natural waters within the city of Azle. To ensure compliance with Azle’s Stormwater Management Ordinance — which was adopted in 2002 — the code enforcement team assists the stormwater division to enforce these regulations.
“The No. 1 questions that we always get are ‘Why do we have an ordinance,’ and ‘Why do we ask people to pick up the leaves in their yard?’” Hawkins said. “I actually found out that we have a Stormwater Ordinance that we adopted about 24 years ago that stipulates that people are supposed to maintain their yards and pick up their leaves, so they don’t get blown down to the storm water system and get into our creeks and lakes. There is a rhyme and a reason on why we do have that ordinance.”
Hawkins explained that code enforcement finds out about a residents’ leaf accumulation by one of two ways: by making city-wide sweeps around Azle neighborhoods and through formal complaints from residents.
“Three years ago, we did hire a second code enforcement officer and that did allow us to be a little bit more proactive in the enforcement,” Hawkins said. “Prior to that, we only had one officer who was purely reactive, where, you know, people call and complain that someone’s not picking up their leaves — and that’s how we start a case.”
Hawkins collected a data summary on the number of letters the city has sent out over the past three years. He explained that the city sent out 291 correction notices in 2023-24, 262 notices from 2024-25 and 204 notices between 2025-26 — a total of 757 cases.
“These are not citations,” Hawkins clarified. “They’re just informational. They allow the neighbors to know that, ‘Hey, you have leaves in the front yard,’ and you’re given a deadline to pick them up.”
According to the informational packet, the city’s goal is to achieve 100% abatement of the issues and 100% compliance with city ordinances without issuing any citations — a goal Hawkins said the city has been able to meet thus far.
“At the end of the day, we haven’t issued any citations for any of these cases; that’s not where our intentions are,” Hawkins said. “It’s just to get people to come into compliance.”
According to the city’s informational packet, the process begins each year with reminders about seasonal leaf accumulation. Before conducting city-wide sweeps, the city posts information on its website and social media to inform property owners and residents about how to avoid violations.
If a property is found to be in violation, the first letter is mailed out explaining what needs to be done, typically giving the owner 15–20 days to comply. After that deadline, Code Enforcement revisits the property for inspection. If violations remain, a second notice is issued, which may also include attempts to contact the resident by phone or in person. If contact cannot be made, the second letter sets a new 15-to-20-day deadline.
Should the violation still not be resolved, door hangers are left at the property with instructions to contact code enforcement, and a third letter labeled “Final Notice” is mailed — again providing another 15–20 days to comply.
In most cases, Hawkins said the issue is resolved after the final notice, and the case is closed without citations being issued.
While the city continues to send out more than 200 correction notices annually, Hawkins noted that these numbers are steadily declining year after year.
“When we sent out the second notice, the one that we’re in right now, we only sent out 23 notices,” he said. “Out of 204, 23 were still in violation, so there’s a lot of people who have brought their yards into compliance, and nine of those 23 are actually just vacant lots, so we’re only dealing with 14 houses at this point.”
Hawkins also explained that residents have four months — November, December, January and February — to bring their properties into compliance with the city’s ordinance.
“We’re not going after citations,” Hawkins reiterated. “But eventually, they will come into compliance.”
Since each property owner’s case is unique and often poses different challenges to achieve compliance, Hawkins explained that code enforcement also regularly assists certain individuals by coming up with alternative solutions to help abate the problem. These solutions include suggesting mulching the leaves with a lawnmower, talking with neighbors or family members for assistance, and getting these homeowners connected with the Good Neighbors program.
“Sometimes, there’s elderly people who can’t pick up their leaves or they’re disabled, so we do put them in contact with Good Neighbors,” Hawkins said. “They have a team of people that can go out there and help residents out.”
LEAFING THROUGH SOLUTIONS
Following Hawkins’ presentation, Mayor Randa Goode explained that the main disconnect between the city and residents is knowing why this ordinance is even being enforced. Since this issue has now been cleared up, Goode thanked Hawkins for creating the informative packet and for staying on top of the community’s concerns.
“I think that the big issue that I especially had some people reaching out about is because the deadline was Dec. 26, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, could we not use a little common sense?’” Goode said. “Also, I know the first letter is not a citation — it looks very much like a citation — and I know the purpose is to get their attention, but I feel like if we included a pamphlet or kind of soften the wording a little … like say, ‘This is a warning before further actions are taken,’ or just a reminder notice, I think that would alleviate some of the frustration with the citizens and then also inform them.”
Place 4 councilman Josh Berry said several times now as a council member, he has experienced instances where misinformation has gotten out to the public. However, he said he’s not sure how much the city is doing to correct this spread of misinformation.
“I’m concerned that we could maybe get better,” he said. “The way it was phrased at the TML (Texas Municipal League) conference was, ‘If we’re not going to get information out, the misinformation is going to come in its place.’ … My question is, is there something we can do that kind of changes the approach to this?”
As a solution, Berry asked if there was a better way the city could get the leaf ordinance information out to the public, whether through leveraging social media, speaking at HOA meetings or implementing additional flyers or door hangers.
“I think part of it is education,” Berry said. “I’m not saying all of that needs to be done. I’m not saying any of it needs to be done … I don’t know what the solution is, but what we’re doing isn’t working … I’ve said my piece on it. I just think we could do better. We have basically 10 months to prep for it.”
City Manager Tom Muir said in his opinion, the letters are doing their job, as the city has dropped the number of violations by nearly a third.
“I think adding something like what the mayor was talking about, adding a pamphlet or something that explains more, that’s probably a little bit more colorful and it’ll be more attractive to the eye,” Muir said. “And that would be in addition to the letter because the letters are being reduced every year.”
Mayor Pro Tem Stacy Peek said when she did a little research on the oak trees around North Texas, she found out that leaves stop falling usually around early/mid-December to late December. Due to this reason, she asked Hawkins if it would make sense to wait until the end of December to send out the correction notices.
Hawkins explained that the timing of the leaf season is one of the reasons why the city is flexible with its deadline — giving residents 20 days per each notice to rectify the situation before the next violation is sent out.
“The second notice wasn’t sent out until after the first week of January, so they have the holidays as well, and then they have until the end of February,” Hawkins said. “They have plenty of time to get it done. We are obligated to follow up on complaints though, and they start coming in as soon as they (residents) start to see any leaves.”
With council members giving a few more suggested tweaks to the city’s process, Hawkins said code enforcement can be flexible with next year’s requirements and has plans to revisit the topic at a future council meeting.
