Police Code Enforcement Unit
Please call Code Enforcement at 303-441-1875 to ask questions or report a code violation. Service requests submitted on-line will receive a response within 4 business days (7:00 am - 5:00 pm, except holidays).
Potential Fines for Violations
The City of Boulder Municipal Court issues a Bond Schedule that lists the fines for various violations of the Boulder Revised Code (1981).
Report a Concern
See the violation categories
Code Enforcement officers investigate code violations related to:
- Bear Resistant Container Required; No Warnings Issued
- Composting and Recycling Required;
- Trash Concerns;
- Illegal Use of Dumpsters;
- Outdoor Furniture Restriction (University Hill Neighborhood Only);
- Overgrown Sidewalk Obstructions;
- Pesticides;
- Sidewalk Snow & Ice Removal;
- Signs in the Right-of-way;
- Smoking in Public Places;
- Special Trash Service (University Hill and Goss-Grove Neighborhoods);
- Weed Control and Tall Vegetation; and
- Wood Burning Restrictions.
Submit your report
- Find the relevant code violation and follow instructions to submit your complaint to non-emergency dispatch
- You can reach non-emergency dispatch at 303-441-1875 to ask questions or report a code violation.
Find the status of your report
Call code enforcement at 303-441-1875, or you may use the Property Search for Summary of Enforcement Activity to search by address and view enforcement activity by the City of Boulder within the past 24 months. This search will return information including:
- Boulder Police Department State summonses;
- Municipal Court summonses; and
- Case status.
Other Code Concerns
- Please see Building, ROW and Rental Code Concerns
The Process
- Following the first violation, written notice of the violation will be given;
- Following a second violation within the one year (Aug. 1 to July 31) period, the city will schedule a settlement meeting involving all anyone who might be named as defendants in any nuisance abatement proceeding. Note: The purpose of the settlement meeting is to obtain a voluntary compliance agreement, in which relevant parties agree to take corrective action to abate and avoid nuisance conditions.
- If no voluntary compliance agreement is achieved, or if an agreement is achieved but the city determines that a party has failed to comply with the terms of the agreement, the matter may be referred to the City Attorney for evaluation and potential filing of a nuisance abatement action.
Acts of Public Nuisance
Nuisance abatement is a civil action that can be pursued along with criminal prosecution.
For the purposes of this program, "public nuisance" means:
- The condition or use of any parcel (house, apartment, etc.) where two or more separate violations of the Boulder Revised Code have occurred within a year; or
- Three or more separate violations have occurred within a two-year period, if during each such violation, the conduct of the person committing the violation was such as to annoy residents in the vicinity of the parcel or passers-by on the public streets, sidewalks, and rights-of-way in the vicinity of the parcel.
The potential outcome of a nuisance abatement action is a corrective, injunctive-type order issued by municipal court. A property owner cannot be deprived of his/her property under this regulation (Chapters 10-2.5: Abatement of Public Nuisances and 12-2: Landlord Tenant Relations).
There are no specific violations or actions that are designated as "public nuisance" acts. Whether or not a violation triggers the nuisance abatement process is a decision left to the responding law enforcement agency. For instance, a trash violation may, in some cases, trigger the nuisance abatement process. In other instances, the problem might be best handled with a municipal court summons.
The nuisance abatement ordinance was enacted as a remedy to:
- Give local law enforcement and the municipal court authority to take civil action to stop properties from being in consistent and repeated violation of municipal laws;
- Make property owners and tenants vigilant in preventing public nuisances on or in their properties;
- Make property owners responsible for the use of their properties by tenants, guests and occupants;
- Provide locally enforceable remedies for violations of local ordinances; and
- Otherwise deter public nuisances.
This ordinance is one of several options the city may use to respond to repeated municipal violations.