The Boca Raton City Council passed a new ordinance that allows code enforcement to write tickets on the spot for certain code violations.
Mayor Scott Singer says he hopes this will help reduce the number of off-campus housing rentals they have in the city.
“The biggest complaint we have gotten of too many people in a house, are really college-style dorms that aren’t meant to be dorms, they are meant to be single-family houses,” said Singer.
Tracey Thompson says her neighborhood has a house across the street with college kids living in it.
‘The first time I noticed it was right when school was starting and they had a party at 12:30 in the afternoon,” she said.
Thompson said the biggest issues with the rental house full of college kids in the lack of parking.
“There are not enough parking spots, they are parked on the grass, they are parked on the sidewalk,” she said.
Singer said the new ordinance should help prevent certain violations like parking on the grass.
“Residents want more protection and we needed another way to show we are serious about protecting single-family neighborhoods,” he said.
Singer said the city also wants to start cracking down on rentals that have more than three unrelated people living in them and this is the first step.
A list of other direct ticketing offenses can be found here. The city says code enforcement officers will start enforcing the new ordinance starting next year.