City of Erie Code Enforcement is set to begin targeted property inspections throughout the city.

Starting April 17, zoning officers will begin conducting targeted inspections in eight zones throughout the city.

Zoning officers will focus on one zone at a time, going street by street to inspect each property.

Property owners with excessive junk and debris in their yards will receive a courtesy notice, which gives them two weeks to address the issue.

After 14 days, code enforcement will return to those properties, and property owners who are still in violation will be charged an abatement fee of $1,400 minimum, if the city is forced to clean it up.

"We hope that folks are proactive about maintaining their property," said City of Erie Director of Office and Development Services Chris Groner. "It is their responsibility. We certainly don't want to have to clean it up ourselves. We don't want to have to charge those fees, but we are strongly urging folks to take care of this because it's not fair to the property owners who take care of their houses."

According to Groner, the abatement fee will go on the property owners water, sewer, and garbage bill.

If they fail to pay, the owner will lose their rental license if it is a multi-unit property.

"A majority of property owners are responsible, but you still have a small number who do not take care of the junk and debris that's on their property," said Groner. "It becomes a health and safety issue. It also has an outside negative effect on neighborhoods. It's not fair to have one or two neighbors in one area that really pull down all the properties for the owners who do take care of their homes."

Next Thursday, code enforcement will target Zone 6, which covers East 12th to East 26th Street, from Parade Street to McKinley Avenue.