City of Tacoma officials announced today letters will go out this week to around 1,500 property owners in the city’s business districts announcing that code inspectors will begin conducting visual inspections for issues that need to be addressed such as debris, overgrown vegetation, building issues or graffiti. The inspections are expected to begin on Feb. 18. Property owners whose sites are flagged for possible code violations will receive postcards warning them of the existence of general nuisance conditions.

The city’s code inspectors will also conduct visual surveys of properties along primary arterial streets that fall outside Tacoma’s neighborhood business districts, and use the information gathered for future planning, outreach and education purposes. Other city staff will meet with the Cross District Association to share survey findings and other information.

City officials say the effort aims to combine outreach with education by connecting with property owners across 15 neighborhood business districts to help them identify and preemptively address any possible code violation issues on their respective sites, while also letting them know about the many City resources currently available to them.

“We’re essentially partnering with local property and business owners to ensure that Tacoma continues to be a safe, attractive, viable and vibrant city,” said Assistant City Manager Tansy Hayward, who also leads the city’s Neighborhood and Community Services Department. “We also want to make sure that they are specifically aware of the broad range of business development support that is available to them through the City of Tacoma.”

The letters mailed this week will also include City of Tacoma resources available to businesses and property owners. Those resources include business loan assessments and information on funding opportunities, demographic and census data for targeted areas and industry sectors, international trade and cultural strategies with Tacoma’s 12 Sister Cities, search engine optimization assessments for business Web sites, consultation on facade improvements and more.

More information is available online at tacomameansbusiness.com.