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Regular Council Meeting April 23, 2018 Page 7 broken windows, broken doors, and having floor plans in case of a fire. Mr. Godwin said that the City did not want its firefighters falling through floors, Mr. Godwin said the City wanted to encourage investment downtown and if you have property you carmot take care of, we want to encourage you to sell it to someone who can take care of it and who wants to take care of it. Mr. Godwin said this will affect local economy. He also said this was not meant to be punitive and the City hoped to be able financially assist through grants for people who needed help keeping their buildings safe. Mayor Clifford inquired about the definition of lawful activity, in that a building could not be used for storage, Mr. Godwin said the zoning ordinance was changed about two years ago in the central area prohibiting storage and warehousing. He also said it did not mean that if you own a business that you could not keep your inventory in the basement, as long as your primary business was retail or a restaurant. Mayor Clifford inquired about the storage units across frorn the market and Mr. Godwin said that business would be grandfathered, Mayor Clifford said the central area was a large area and included vacant residences and he did believe vacant houses should be included in this ordinance. Mayor Clifford said lie felt it would be more effective to first address immediate downtown buildings and not the entire central area district. He said there were a lot of old buildings behind the Fariners Market area that were used for storage and that he saw some problems with enforcement. Mayor Clifford inquired about changing the registration fee depending on square footage of a building. Mr. Godwin said the size of the building did not reflect the value of the building, and the $500.00 fee would stay in downtown to and help with grants to help those who needed financial assistance in helping keep their building safe. Mayor Clifford expressed concern about the violation being a misdemeanor criminal offense. Mr. Godwin said that was, true of every code the City had. City Attorney Stephanie Harris referenced it as being a criminal offense in the same sense of not mowing your grass, or getting a ticket, and she said there were a lot of due process provisions included, Council Member Portugal said it was time to either give up on cleaning the beautiful historic downtown or set some standards and do it. She said this had gone on for 40 years. Council Member Portugal said she supported this ordinance because downtown was ugly, except in spots, where caring owners had maintained their building or renovated it. She said if a person could not afford to own a building, they should sell it. Council Member Knox said she had lived in the downtown area for two-thirds of her life, and wanted to preserve downtown. She expressed concern about the violation being a criminal offense and someone being charged with a felony because a lot misdemeanor cases were stacked against them. Council Member Knox said the insurance firnits appeared to be too high. Ms. Harris advised Council these type misdemeanors were never going to be felonies, despite the number of misdemeanor cases a person was charged with. Council Member Knox said vacant buildings deteriorate at a much more rapid pace than occupied buildings. She also said it was not fair to someone who had invested a lot of money in their building and inventory and then had to worry about the neighboring building that was not maintained. Council Member Knox said she supported this, Council Member Trenado said he supported this wholeheartedly. He said the downtown was deteriorating and they needed to rnove forward with this.