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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-02-15 STAFF REPORTS 3D 04 PALM IVA v `^ w � w 1 OARORAT(O c'4C/FO% City Council Staff Report DATE: February 15, 2006 LEGISLATIVE SUBJECT: PROPOSED ORDINANCE RELATING TO VACANT AND BOARDED i BUILDINGS AS PUBLIC NUISANCES IN THE CITY OF PALM SPRINGS. I FROM: David H. Ready, City Manager BY: Thomas J. Wilson, Assistant City Manager— Development Services _ Douglas C. Holland, City Attorney SUMMARY This Ordinance establishes vacant and boarded buildings that are not maintained as public nuisances and provides for an administrative program to monitor all boarded and vacant buildings, the imposition of fees and civil penalties in furtherance of the program, and administrative review and appeal opportunities. RECOMMENDATION: 1) Waive the reading of the Ordinance text in its entirety and introduce by title only. I 2) Introduce first reading of Ordinance No. , "AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA, ADDING CHAPTER8.80 AND SECTION 11.72.161 TO THE PALM SPRINGS MUNICIPAL CODE, ESTABLISHING VACANT AND BOARDED BUILDINGS AS PUBLIC NUISANCES. " STAFF ANALYSIS: The City Council has made community maintenance and beautification a high priority and recognizes that vacant buildings are a major cause and source of blight in both residential and non-residential neighborhoods, especially when the owner of the building fails to actively maintain and manage the building to ensure that it does not become a liability to the neighborhood. Vacant buildings (whether or not those buildings are boarded), substandard, or I Page 1 of 2 unkempt buildings, and long-term vacancies discourage economic development and retard appreciation of property values. Vacant buildings are potential fire hazards and can jeopardize the: ability of owners of neighboring property from securing or maintaining affordable fire insurance. It is the responsibility of property ownership to prevent owned property from becoming a burden to the neighborhood and community and a threat to the public health, safety, or welfare. One vacant building which is not actively and well maintained and managed can be the: core and cause of spreading blight. FISCAL IMPACT: Finance Director Review: There is no known fiscal impact to the City. The City's refocused code enforcement program will address the implementation of the Ordinance through City staffs / 9 Thomas J. Wils , Assistant City Manager- Dougla' 0. Holland, City Attorney Development S rvices David H. Ready, City Idle ger Attachments: G 1. Proposed Ordinance Page 2 of 2 ORDINANCE NO. AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA, ADDING CHAPTER 8.80 AND SECTION 11.72.161 TO THE PALM SPRINGS MUNICIPAL CODE, ESTABLISHING VACANT AND BOARDED BUILDINGS AS PUBLIC NUISANCES. City Attorney's Summary This ordinance establishes vacant and boarded buildings that are not maintained as public nuisances and provides for an administrative program to monitor all boarded and vacant buildings, the imposition of fees and civil penalties in furtherance of the program, and administrative review and appeal opportunities. The City Council of the City of Palm Springs ordains: SECTION 1. Chapter 8.80 is added to the Palm Springs Municipal Code to read: Chapter 8.80 Maintenance of Long-Term Boarded and Vacated Buildings Sections 8.80.010 Purposes and Definitions 8.80.020 Owner Responsibilities 8.80.030 Monitoring Program-Purpose 8.80.040 Monitoring Program-Departmental Responsibility and Fees 8.80.050 Civil Remedy 8.80.010 Purposes and Definitions. A. Purpose. Vacant buildings are a major cause and source of blight in both residential and non-residential neighborhoods, especially when the owner of the building fails to actively maintain and manage the building to ensure that it does not become a liability to the neighborhood. Vacant buildings (whether or not those buildings are boarded), substandard, or unkempt buildings, and long-term vacancies discourage economic development and retard appreciation of property values. Vacant buildings are potential fire hazards and can jeopardize the ability of owners of neighboring property from securing or maintaining affordable fire insurance. It is the responsibility of property ownership to prevent owned property from becoming a burden to the neighborhood and community and a threat to the public health, safety, I I 1 or welfare. One vacant building which is not actively and well maintained and managed can be the core and cause of spreading blight. B. Definitions. In construing the provisions of this Chapter 8.80 of the Code, the following definitions shall apply: "Building" means any structure, including, but not limited to, any residential, commercial, industrial, or assembly structure, approved for occupancy on either a lot of record or within a single project approved by the City pursuant to the City's Zoning Ordinance. "Building Official" means the Director of the Department of Building and Safety for the City. "Boarded building" means a vacant building or portion of a vacant building whose doors and windows have been covered with plywood or other material for the purpose of preventing entry into the vacant building by persons or animals. "Vacant building" means a building where at least thirty-five percent (35%) of the total floor area within the building is not occupied. 8.80.020 Owner Responsibilities. A. No person shall allow a building designed for human use or occupancy to stand vacant for more than ninety days, unless the owner establishes by substantial evidence to the reasonable satisfaction of the Building Official that one of the following applies: 1. The building is the subject of an active building permit for repair or rehabilitation and the owner is progressing diligently to complete the repair or rehabilitation; 2. The building meets all applicable codes, is actively maintained, and is ready for occupancy, and is actively being offered for sale, lease, or rent; 3. The building does not contribute to and is not likely to contribute to blight because the owner is actively maintaining and monitoring the building so that it does not contribute to blight. Active maintenance and monitoring shall include: i. Maintenance of landscaping and plant materials in good condition, ii. Maintenance of the exterior of the building, including but not limited to paint and finishes, in good condition, iii. Regular removal of all exterior trash, debris and graffiti, iv. Maintenance of the building in continuing compliance with all applicable codes and regulations, V. Prevention of criminal activity on the premises, including but not limited to use and sale of controlled substances, prostitution and criminal street gang activity, 2 I V. Windows screened with opaque material that prevents interior space of the building from being visible from public rights of way or public property. B. The owner of any boarded building, whether boarded by voluntary action of the owner or as a result of enforcement activity by the City, shall cause the boarded building to be rehabilitated for occupancy within ninety days after the building is boarded and shall comply with the provisions of Subsection A of this Section. 8.80.030 Monitoring Program - Purpose. A. Vacant buildings are a major cause and source of blight in residential and nonresidential neighborhoods, especially when the owner of the building fails to maintain and manage the building to ensure that it does not become a liability to the neighborhood. Vacant buildings often attract transients and criminals, including drug users. Use of vacant buildings by transients and criminals, who may employ primitive cooking or heating methods, creates a risk of fire for the vacant buildings and adjacent properties. Vacant properties are often used as dumping grounds for junk and debris and are often overgrown with weeds and grass. Vacant buildings which are boarded up to prevent entry by transients and other long-term vacancies discourage economic development and retard appreciation of property values. B. Because of the potential economic and public health, welfare and safety problems caused by vacant buildings, the City needs to monitor vacant buildings, so that they do not become attractive nuisances, are not used by trespassers, are properly maintained both inside and out, and do not become a blighting influence in the neighborhood. City departments involved in such monitoring include the Police, Fire, Planning Services, and Building Services Departments. There is a substantial cost to the City for monitoring vacant buildings (whether or not those buildings are boarded up) which should be borne by the owners of the vacant buildings. 8.80.040 Monitoring Program — Departmental Responsibility and Fees. A. Authority. The Building Official shall be responsible for administering a program for identifying and monitoring the maintenance of all vacant buildings in the City. The program shall be documented and regularly updated. The program shall be available for public review. B. Purposes. The purposes of the monitoring program shall be: 1. To identify buildings that become vacant; 2. To order vacant buildings that are open and accessible to be secured against unlawful entry pursuant to Chapter 8 of this Code, including the Building Code; 3. To initiate proceedings against the owner of any vacant building found to be substandard as defined in this Title or a nuisance under Title 11 of this Code; I I I 3 I 4. To maintain surveillance over vacant buildings so that timely code enforcement proceedings are commenced in the event a building becomes substandard or a nuisance; and 5. To establish and enforce rules and regulations for the implementation and compliance with the provisions of Section 8.80.020. C. Fee Imposed. There is imposed upon every owner of a vacant building monitored pursuant to this Chapter, an annual vacant building monitoring fee in an initial amount as the City Council may establish by resolution, provided that the fee shall not exceed the estimated reasonable cost of monitoring the vacant building. The fee shall be payable as to any building, residential or nonresidential, which: 1. Is boarded up by voluntary action of the owner or as the result of enforcement activities by the City; or 2. Is vacant for more than ninety days for any reason. D. Fee Waiver. The vacant building monitoring fee shall be waived upon a showing by the owner that: 1. The owner has obtained a building permit and is progressing diligently to repair the premises for occupancy; or 2. The building meets all applicable codes and is actively being offered for sale, lease, or rent; or 3. Imposition of the fee would impose a substantial economic hardship on the owner or would hinder the rehabilitation of the building. E. Procedure. The vacant building monitoring fee shall be billed to the owner of the property and mailed to the owner's address as set forth on the last equalized assessment roll of the County Assessor. Any owner billed may apply for a waiver on the grounds set forth in Subsection D of this Section by submitting a written statement of the grounds for the waiver, and the owner's daytime telephone number, to the Building Official within thirty days after the billing is mailed to the owner. The owner shall provide substantial evidence in support of the owner's statement of the grounds for the waiver. The Building Official shall review the written statement and all related evidence and may contact the owner to discuss the application for waiver. The Building Official shall prepare a written decision which shall be mailed to the owner and shall set forth the reasons for the decision. F. Any owner aggrieved by the decision of the Building Official relating to an application for waiver may appeal the Building Official's decision to the Administrative Appeals Board in the manner provided in Chapter 11.72.220 of this Code. G. If the fee is not paid within sixty days after billing, or within sixty days after the decision of the Building Official or the Hearing Officer, the City Council may thereupon order that the fee be specially assessed against the property involved. If the City Council orders that the fee be specially assessed against the property, it shall confirm the assessment and thereafter said assessment may be collected at the same time and in the same manner as ordinary real property taxes are collected and shall be I I 4 subject to the same penalties and the same procedure and sale in case of delinquency as provided for ordinary real property taxes. All laws applicable to the levy, collection, and enforcement of real property taxes are applicable to the special assessment. H. The City Council may also cause a notice of lien to be recorded. The notice shall, at a minimum, identify the record owner or possessor of the property, set forth the last known address of the record owner or possessor, a description of the real property subject to the lien, and the amount of the fee. 8.80.050 Civil Penalty A. Penalty. Any owner of a boarded building which remains boarded in violation of Subsection 8.80.020 B or any owner of a building which remains vacant in violation of Subsection 8.80.020 A shall be liable for an administrative penalty in an amount not to exceed five hundred dollars ($500.00) for each calendar month, or portion thereof, the building is boarded or vacant in violation of such subsections. B. Procedure. 1. The administrative penalty shall be imposed by a Hearing Officer upon the recommendation of the Building Official and after the owner shall have been afforded a hearing before the Hearing Officer. The hearing shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions of Section 11.72.220. In setting the penalty, the Hearing Officer shall consider the severity of the blighting conditions of the property and the owner's efforts, or lack thereof, to remedy the problem. The decision of the Hearing Officer shall be final; 2. The administrative penalty shall be due and payable within thirty (30) days after the decision of the Hearing Officer. If the penalty is not paid within forty five (45) days after the decision of the Hearing Officer, the City Council may thereupon order that the penalty be a personal obligation of the property owner or that it be specially assessed against the property involved. If the City Council orders that the penalty be specially assessed against the property, it shall confirm the assessment and thereafter said assessment may be collected at I the same time and in the same manner as ordinary real property taxes are If collected and shall be subject to the same penalties and the same procedure and sale in case of delinquency as provided for ordinary real property taxes. All laws applicable to the levy, collection, and enforcement of real property taxes are applicable to the special assessment; 3. The City Council may also cause a notice of lien to be recorded. The notice shall, at a minimum, identify the record owner or possessor of the property and set forth the last known address of the record owner or possessor, the date on which the penalty was imposed, a description of the real property subject to the lien, and the amount of the penalty. 5 C. Waiver. The administrative penalty shall be waived if the Building Official or Hearing Officer finds that imposition of the penalty would work a substantial economic hardship on the owner or would hinder the rehabilitation of the building. D. Non-Exclusive Remedy. This Section provides a civil penalty remedy that is in addition to all other legal remedies, criminal or civil, which may be pursued by the City to address any violation of this Chapter. The civil penalty imposed pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be in lieu of the administrative citation penalties imposed pursuant to the provisions of Section 1.06.040 of this Code. SECTION 2. Section 11.72.161 is added to the Palm Springs Municipal Code to read: 11.72.161 Boarded and Vacant Buildings. Any building within the City that is boarded up or vacant and not maintained pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 8.80 is a public nuisance. SECTION 3. The Mayor shall sign and the City Clerk shall certify to the passage and adoption of this Ordinance and shall cause the same, or the summary thereof, to be published and posted pursuant to the provisions of law and this Ordinance shall take effect thirty (30) days after passage. I PASSED AND ADOPTED THIS DAY OF 2006. AYES: NOES: ABSTAIN: ABSENT: RON ODEN, MAYOR ATTEST: James Thompson, City Clerk APPROVFb(AS TO FORM: A Dougla�Holland, City Attorney 6