The Presque Isle City Council on Wednesday voted to table a proposed ordinance designed to give the city more control over vacant buildings.
The decision to table the ordinance, which has been criticized by landlords and developers as “government overreach,” was at the request of the city manager to update the ordinance to “incorporate citizen suggestions.”
The legislation targets properties that don’t currently violate building code, but where vacancy poses future risk for repeated break-ins and other situations that strain public safety resources.
City Manager Sonja Eyler and councilors have insisted that the ordinance promotes economic development by encouraging turnover and spurring property owners to address issues with their buildings.
“There are buildings that look quiet from the outside, but inside they are not neutral,” Eyler said during a March 4 council meeting. “They are collecting risk. They are collecting cost. They are collecting frustration from neighbors who feel unheard. Idle property is lost economic momentum.”
Under the terms of the tabled proposal, property owners would be levied fines by city’s code enforcement officer at least 30 days after being issued a notice of violation if doors and windows were not weathertight and secure, structural elements are in disrepair or if the property has “excessive vegetation, debris, rubbish, and vermin.
The proposed fines would range from $100 to $2,500 a day for every day the violation continues. The ordinance does not specify how that amount would be determined.
The local law being considered by the council is a shell of the first draft of the ordinance the city rolled out in February, which sought to require property owners to register their vacant buildings for $200 to $500 — depending on whether the property was residential or commercial — for six month permits. The cost of a permit after a year and a half of vacancy was set to five times those amounts.
Heavy pushback from developers caused Presque Isle to redraft the ordinance and admit that its first approach was “too heavy-handed.”