SAN MARCOS -- The city may soon tell residents how long their Christmas lights can stay up and how tall their grass can be under a proposed ordinance aimed at keeping the city looking good.

The rules were developed as a way to deal with property-related issues that residents frequently complain about, but are not yet covered in the city's municipal code, Deputy City Manager Lydia Romero said last week.

They would establish minimum appearance and maintenance standards for local properties -- including privately owned homes and businesses.

The city's staff and San Marcos' Student and Neighborhood Relations Commission have been discussing the proposal for several weeks.

Residents will get a chance to have their say about the draft ordinance during a June 8 public hearing. The commission will then decide whether to endorse the proposal and forward it to the City Council for approval.

The ultimate goal, Romero said, is to protect local property values.

"It's the city's job to ensure that we have nice property values because when you have nice property values, you have a strong community with strong schools and strong businesses," she said. "It keeps our community safe, it keeps our community looking nice, it keeps our community a place where families want to live in and where businesses want to locate in."

A council goal

The City Council set the stage for the ordinance in 2007, when it decided a top goal was to protect the integrity and desirability of the city's neighborhoods.

Karl Schwarm, director of the city's housing and neighborhood services, said last week he then began keeping a list of property-related complaints not addressed by the municipal code.

The list included properties littered with trash and junk, broken fences and overgrown landscaping, he and Romero said.

A wave of foreclosures brought on by the national real estate market crisis exacerbated the problems and made property maintenance issues a priority for the city, Schwarm said.

The council decided in March that the Student and Neighborhood Relations Commission should work on the proposed ordinance.

An early version spells out standards for buildings and structures; fences, gates and walls; landscaping, off-street parking; right-of-way obstructions; and tents, shelters, canopies and tarps.

The proposed ordinance also sets standards for pools, storm water runoff and odors.

Property owners would be prohibited, for example, from allowing excessive animal feces to collect on their land, and seasonal decorations would have to be taken down within 10 days after a holiday (although lights could stay up 90 days afterward), if the ordinance is approved.

Clotheslines visible from the street would be prohibited. And indoor furniture, mattresses and appliances could not be used outdoors except on enclosed porches or balconies.

Other standards would require broken or damaged windows to be fixed, limit grass height to 6 inches, dictate where motorhomes, boats and other mobile equipment could be parked, and ban portable basketball hoops and skateboard ramps from sidewalks and other public right-of-ways.

HOA support

The ordinance would cover only those problems visible from the street or another public area. Romero said city officials do not plan to use the proposed ordinance to harass property owners and would investigate alleged violations only after receiving specific complaints.

The city's code enforcement officers would consider complaints on a case-by-case basis to make sure people weren't simply using the ordinance as a weapon against people they were angry with or disliked, Romero said.

Violators would face civil and administrative penalties, though specifics have not been decided.

A public hearing the commission held in May drew just four residents, including two who spoke in favor of the proposal. The other two declined to address the panel.

Commission members themselves have yet to weigh in on the proposal, saying they want to hear residents' takes on it first. A survey the city recently posted on its Web site is expected to help with that.

Homeowners associations have their own property appearance and maintenance standards for the neighborhoods they cover.

"Most of them have embraced this and said this would assist them," Schwarm said about the associations. "It's general in nature. Homeowners associations say, 'this is the color of paint you can use on your house….' The city's just saying you need to have your house painted, you need to make sure no storm water runs off of it. So this does not interfere with anything that the (homeowners associations) are doing."

Click on "What's New," then "News" on the city's Web site at www.san-marcos.net to find the draft ordinance or take the survey.

Contact staff writer Andrea Moss at 760-739-6654.