COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Neighbors in Cobb County are voicing concerns over an overgrown property that they describe as a junkyard with an unbearable smell.
Despite efforts by code enforcement and environmental health officials, the property owner says there are limits to what authorities can control on his land.
“A junkyard and a litterbox, trash and cats and rats, and can smell the property when you walk outside,” Corey Barnes, a neighbor who has documented numerous citations against the property, told Channel 2 Cobb Bureau Chief Michele Newell.
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Barnes has created a timeline of citations and has folders full of documents, pictures, and videos of the property. She has folders full of documents, pictures and video of what she says she is tired of living next to.
She claims to have caught nearly 30 stray cats.
“I do not feel comfortable letting my animals outside right now,” Barnes said.
“They’ve been out there many times. They initiated many citations,” said Ross Cavitt, Cobb County communications director.
County officials report that Code Enforcement has conducted 60 inspections at the property, with some cases dating back nearly 20 years.
“Problems continue to pile up, and our Code Enforcement people are as frustrated as well they can’t come to some sort of resolution,” Cavitt said.
Medlin, the property owner, argues that there is no proof of any health issue.
“Their code enforcement says the front of my property which is their right of way. That’s all that they have right to control,” he said.
Barnes believes Medlin has a misunderstanding of the law and notes that he continues to demand jury trials.
Medlin claims financial constraints limit his ability to maintain the property.
“I don’t have lots of money to do a lot of things, but I do keep my property clean on the front of my house,” he said.
Barnes has expressed a desire for the home to be deemed a nuisance property, but county officials explain that nuisance abatements cannot be applied to occupied homes.
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