Adams County, CO Property Maintenance: Property Blight (2026)

Ordinance No. 3, effective March 29, 2010, declares it unlawful for anyone to maintain outside storage or accumulation of rubbish, junk, trash, garbage, weeds, brush or refuse on property they own, lease, rent or occupy in unincorporated Adams County. Junk is defined broadly to include machinery or motor vehicle parts, inoperable vehicles on private property or county right-of-way, appliances stored outside, dilapidated signs, fences or retaining walls, and other cast-off material regardless of reuse value. Domestic refuse kept in a closed container for no more than 30 days is exempt, and the storage rule does not apply where it is incidental and necessary to a lawfully operating business consistent with county zoning.

The Director of Public Works, including zoning inspectors and environmental compliance agents, inspects unincorporated property and enforces the ordinance. When blight is found, the county mails or personally delivers notice to the owner and occupant giving 14 days to remove it and the right to request an Adams County Court hearing within that same 14 days. If the owner does neither, Public Works may apply for an administrative entry and seizure warrant from the county court, execute it within 10 days, and remove and dispose of the material; if a hearing is requested and the court still issues a warrant, the same 10-day execution process applies.

The county recovers its removal cost, plus a 10 percent inspection surcharge for weeds and brush or 5 percent for rubbish, junk, trash and garbage, as a special assessment lien against the property with priority over all but general taxes and prior special assessments. Unpaid assessments are certified to the County Treasurer after 60 days and collected like property taxes with an added 10 percent collection penalty.