Council considering legislation allowing City to seize property.
At the City Council meeting of January 18, 2010, legislation was introduced to grant City Staff the authority to inspect buildings within the city limits for structural problems, or other deficiencies. If the City finds a problem with a building, it can do a variety of things ranging from ordering repairs, or taking care of it with municipal funds and billing the property owner. It appears that this applies not only to businesses and “public” areas as well as residential homes.
Council had a study session on this subject in at their first meeting of 2010, and at Staff’s request, placed in on the agenda for the first reading at the January 18, 2010 meeting. The new ordinance was proposed by City Staff, but no Council Member appeared to have wanted to sponsor it until Council President Pat Hale formally sponsored it, nearly at the last minute. The second reading will be at the February 1, 2010 meeting (This coming Monday!), where council will vote on whether to enact the measure into law.
The legislation contains provisions that have already met with concern among council members, and the public alike. It allows City Engineer’s inspect buildings to see if they are insecure, unsafe, or structurally defective. If any problems are found, a process for remedying the situation is triggered. The City will notify the owner that they have 30 days to voluntarily repair or remove the structure or reach an agreement with the City to bring the structure into compliance. If not, the City will do the repairs or remove the structure at taxpayer expense, and then bill the owner. If the owner does not pay, the property itself will be assessed, and the costs will be collected at the time the property is sold, if ever.
With several historical buildings downtown, this could become a real issue as many buildings are in various states of repair (or disrepair, as the case would be). Some have raised issues on whether this conflicts with the authority or goals of the City’s Restoration Board, the Building Standards Board of Review, or perhaps the Planning Board. Others have raised property-rights concerns, and whether a city should be able to do this to a property-owner. Others questioned why the City should bear the expense of “improving” a property when they will not be reimbursed until it is sold, no doubt for a profit because of the City’s work.
As the law stands now Miami County’s Building Regulation Department handles such issues. This new law would allow for the City to take action instead. The final vote is set for the February 1, 2010 meeting.
