Arlington Launches Website to Explore Apartment Complexes, Extended Stay Properties
The City of Arlington recently launched a new website aimed at providing tenants and property owners with inspection scores, how to report or address common code violations and other useful information related to apartment complexes and extended stay properties within the American Dream City.
The Rapid Reference Guide, which took about a year to create, prominently features an interactive map of Arlington apartment communities. With a click of a button, users can find the name and contact information for the assigned Code Compliance officer, the property 's latest annual inspection score and property rating for each apartment community.
The site also features a menu of common code concerns, including property cleanliness, security issues, electrical and plumbing problems and residents illegally operating a business out of their home. The page also provides numerous photos to give readers examples of violations to report or address, such as windows blocked by furniture, missing burners on a stove or rusting stairwells. Users are also provided links to related city 's ordinances and a form to report an issue online.
'The biggest reason we launched this website is for customer service. We want to inform tenants of multifamily properties as well as the owners and managers, ' said Stephen Allen, Code Compliance North District Supervisor. 'This gives them a place to go to and very easily get their questions answered. '
The introduction of the Rapid Reference Guide was prompted by strategies adopted by the City Council in 2012 to improve multifamily property maintenance conditions citywide, said Mike Bass, Code Compliance Services Administrator. The adopted strategies were intended to address curb appeal, blighted and poorly maintained properties and aged infrastructure, he said.
Allen said the guide 's interactive map will be a great resource for those who currently live in apartments or who are searching for an apartment within the City.
'We get a number of calls from people wanting to find out who their code officer is. This gives them the ability to go online and find their complex and find out all the pertinent information, ' Allen said.
That information includes apartment complex ' annual inspection scores and a color rating that indicates how high or low a property rated from well above average down to below average.
'We get a lot of questions about complexes, such as 'Can you tell me what a good complex is? ' We 've never had this much information easily available, ' Allen said.
'Both current and potential citizens moving into our City now have a place they can go to easily find the answers to their questions, ' he added. 'People looking for a place to live and go find out what properties they may want to move to. Current citizens can access answers to their questions in an easy-to-use format. It helps with customer service on multiple levels. '
The launch of the Rapid Reference Guide is an example of the City Council 's priority to Put Technology to Work in an effort to improve the City 's efficiency and improve residents ' quality of life.
'Some of Arlington 's technology challenges include being able to provide citizens with access to more information they feel is valuable to making quality of life decisions, ' Deputy City Manager Theron Bowman said.
'We recognize that finding technological solutions to facilitate higher-quality living standards for our residents represents opportunities for better, more efficient and a longer-term resolutions for problems. '
Put Technology to Work, Champion Great Neighborhoods
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