03-E Hist Pres.Comm. (10/14/02) - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

October 14, 2002 Page 20 of 35 In starting on page six we go through the notice provisions. The notice provision can be extensive and I will not bore you with all of the details of them but this is basically out of the state statute. This is not my creation. Not a whole lot of any sort of thought on my part because this is basically what the state statute is requiring us to do if we want to do this with somebody's property. That is true continuing over the page seven and page eight; filing notices; checking the records; it is so detailed that it goes in to what happens if the notice is refused or unclaimed. And then on page eight under item (7), it says, " after a hearing on an affected property the commission shall reduce any order or condition to writing." What we will probably try to generate for you are some forms to use in advance of you having your orders issued but it is not only important but it is mandatory that you issue an order for repair; to issue an order for demolition; you issue an order for a property to be secured and it must be in writing. Secondly, under paragraph (7), and very importantly, this is an ordinance that anticipates prompt action. So it provides that there is a thirty (30) day window for a property owner to comply, unless they meet a higher burden set out in the ordinance that in your judgment justifies them having a longer period of time. I know this is one of the complaints under our old ordinances was that orders would be issued and linger for six months to a year and nothing was happening. That is not the intent of this particular ordinance. When a property has an order rendered against it, that property better have some good reasons for you to consider why they can't comply within a thirty (30) day window in order for you to be empowered to give them more time. And finally under paragraph (8), "the commission shall not allow the owner, lienholder, or mortgagee more than ninety (90) calendar days to repair, remove or demolish the building or fully perform all work required to comply with the order unless the owner, lienholder or mortgagee submits a detailed plan and time schedule for the work at the hearing and establishes at the hearing that the work cannot reasonably be completed within ninety (90) days because of the scope and complexity of the work." So this is not a"we will wait around and give you time" ordinance. If it comes to you it comes to you because it is pretty bad shape because nobody has cared. And that is the message we are trying to send through this and that is the message the legislature sends. The rest of it deals again with more notice provisions; how those orders are sent; the calendar dates that deal with that. I think under page ten you have a general recitation of the authority of the commission to declare a building dangerous or substandard; order it secured; order it demolished or removed; order it repaired; or in the appropriate case order the immediate vacation of persons and the immediate removal of property. And of course, again, I emphasize again that people who don't belong there because it is an occupied building shouldn't come to you in the first place. And on the next page, page eleven, it also provides for you to, in the appropriate circumstance, impose up to a thousand dollar per day civil penalty for violation of