Penalties and Enforcement
The numbers (Appendix G §§11-12)
- Work under a CA must conform to the CA as issued (conditions included); the Director of Community Development inspects periodically
- Violation = misdemeanor, fine up to $2,000 — per day, each day a separate offense
- The same $2,000/day framework is written directly into the district designation ordinances (e.g., Ord. 93-58 §7)
What enforcement looks like in practice
- Complaint-driven (neighbors, staff drive-bys, contractor permit cross-checks)
- Unpermitted work typically produces a stop-work order + retroactive CA application — where the Commission holds all the leverage; retroactive approvals often carry restoration conditions
- Demolition-by-neglect is the gray zone: Grapevine's ordinance (unlike some cities') lacks an explicit affirmative-maintenance/demolition-by-neglect enforcement section — pressure comes informally through the Historic Preservation Commission and Grapevine Heritage Foundation
- §10 freeze: initiating a historic zoning case on a property suspends permit acceptance — the nuclear option against an owner racing to demolish
Track observed enforcement instances in Case Index as the minutes corpus is parsed.
Sources: Source Index §Municode App-G §§11-12, §Ord-93-58.