17 - Creating a New Registration Program for All Vacant Central Area Buildings

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Iterm No. 17 TO.- Mayor& City Council FROM: John Godwin, City Manager SUBJECT: VACANT 131.31,11)ING REGISTRY DATE: April 12, 2018 BACKGROUND: Paris is blessed with a. large number of valuable, historically significant buildings. Many have been redeveloped and/or repurposed, and more are underway, We continue to have a number of'buildings that sit vacant and idle, however, making the downtown as a whole less appealing and vibrant, and potentially harming the business opportunities of those who have invested in downtown. Safety is another concern; if a neighboring building is not secure, it has great potential to harm neighboring buildings and even persons. Potential developers are often put off by the condition of'such structures. STATUS OF ISSUE: One tool that has been used SUCCeSSfUlly in a number of cities with older downtowns is a building registry. All unused buildings must be registered with the city, In this way, the city has irn.mediate contact information if anything goes wrong, certain basic standards of care are put in place to keep those buildings from deteriorating, and unused properties pay an annual fee for the registry. This fee has been shown in niany cases to encourage development of appropriate uses In lien of sitting on buildings or using them for less economically desirable purposes. The Main Street advisory board reviewed the proposed registry ordinance at their February 2017 meeting and unanimously recon-iniended its adoption. The ordinance, with some revisions, was again reviewed by the board on April 10 of this year, and again received unanimous support as an important tool to encourage downtown redevelopment. The Historic Preservation Commission also reviewed the ordinance and its intent oil April 11, and they too unanimously recommended its adoption by the city council. BUDGET. NA, RECOMMENDATION: Approve attached ordinance:.