Kennesaw homeowners frustrated over nuisance property inviting insects and rodents to neighborhood

KENNESAW, Ga. — It’s an eyesore Jennifer Duffee said she and her neighbors have been dealing with for several years.

“I’ve seen foxes come from his yard, there’s coyotes,” she said.

She is referring to an overgrowth of grass that she said is so bad, vegetation is growing on the sides and roof of a home on Dillard Drive.

Neighbors say the vegetation has invited rodents and insects to surrounding homes like Duffee’s.

“I got in my car to leave for work and a rat crawled up on my leg, from inside my car,” she said.

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Cobb County communications director Ross Cavitt said they’ve been trying to get the homeowner to comply.

“They’re very familiar with the situation, they’ve been out to the house a lot, it’s very frustrating for them, as so it is for the neighborhood,” Cavitt said.

Residents tell Channel 2 the homeowner suffers from a mental disability.

“We’ve all tried to talk to him, he just mumbles and walks back in his house,” Duffee said.

Cavitt said it’s a state law preventing the county from stepping in and mowing the lawn.

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“Unfortunately, law requires us to personally cite homeowners when they have a situation like this, and we’ve only been able to do that one time,” Cavitt said.

Cavitt said in situations where homeowners or business owners don’t comply, the case is sent to court. Legal experts say it’s a long process, where a judge will decide if the property needs to be condemned.

“We’ll just continue to make attempts and cite that homeowner and then possibly get him in court,” Cavitt said.

When our cameras were in that neighborhood on Tuesday, the house was barely visible from the street. After our phone calls to the county, Cavitt said they were in touch with a relative of the homeowner. That family member hired a private landscaper, who came to the home Wednesday morning to cut both the front and back yards.

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