SIDNEY — Sidney City Council directed city staff to move forward with the vacant properties registration program during Monday’s council meeting.
Community Services Director Barbara Dulworth presented council with long awaited research information about developing a program to deal with city’s problem of abandoned and vacant properties around town.
Dulworth said vacant properties are a “life-safety concern” to surrounding properties, people entering the vacant building, as well as for police and fire responders. She noted these properties are likely to become more deteriorated and have a negative effect on surrounding properties and neighborhoods.
In Sidney, Dulworth said, there are 55 vacant commercial/industrial structures and 928 vacant residential structures. Of the vacant commercial/industrial structures, she said, the fire department responded to one building fire, one outside rubbish fire, eight calls due to hazardous conditions and 23 EMS calls. Of the residential structures, 11 percent are considered “zombie” properties — meaning, no one claims ownership of the property; 3.6 percent were in violation of the city’s building code between 2014-2016; and, 6.6 percent were in violation of the city’s property maintenance code in 2016.
Dulworth said city staff looked at 11 other Ohio communities’ current programs/vacant property regulations. Due to the city of Sandusky’s success rate of reducing vacant buildings in their downtown from over 100 properties down to about 15, city staff has been looking closely at their program and is considering modeling Sidney’s after it.
In Sandusky, property owners must register within 30 days of vacancy or city notification. An interior inspection is required at the time of registration. The vacancy fee for the first year is $400, and the fee doubles each year the building sits empty. Penalty fees are $300 per day, with an increase to $500 per day after 10 calender days of non-compliance.
She said there are three basic goals of the regulations requiring registration, including, ensuring the city is aware of the location of the “high-risk buildings,” possessing contact information of the property’s responsible party in the area, and ensuring the building will not be allowed to deteriorate; thus encouraging rehabilitation and reuse.
Regulations, Dulworth said, have four basic components, and they are: type of property: industrial, commercial or residential; fee amount, frequency and escalation; required inspections; and penalties for non-compliance.
Dulworth’s report pointed to some concerns the city should be aware of, such as, staffing needs for the amount of time to run the program, the public’s reception and likely some opposition, and also the amount of time it will take to see a change. She said the program will not be an instant solution, as it will take several years to see a change in vacant properties around Sidney.
Finally, she reported the next steps would be to complete an accurate survey and database of vacant properties, further refine regulations, create policy and procedures and to find a way to fund necessary staff other than through the general fund.
Finding funding to staff the program is the biggest goal for moving the program forward. City Manager Mark Cundiff said he and city staff would research funding sources, but noted that adding the program will not be possible without eliminating something else.
Council determined that instituting a vacancy property program is a priority and obtaining funding for additional staff is a must. During discussion of the deteriorating, abandoned properties being a safety hazard, Mayor Mike Barhorst said the situation will continue to get worse if the city does nothing.
Although there are close to 1,000 properties on the vacant property list, Dulworth said the city will be lucky to see 50 percent register, so program fees can not be depended upon to pay for staffing.
Other than funding discussion, other questions arose, such as whether the city will have the right to perform interior inspections. Law Director Jeff Amick said the first goal would be to try and obtain cooperation and permission for interior inspections. If permission is not granted, Amick said the city would have to move to the next step, which he did not elaborate upon. However, he told council the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that even though ordinances have been created by other cities requiring interior inspections, without permission, entrance is not allowed without a search warrant.
Barhorst said interior inspections are necessary because deterioration often cannot be seen from the outside. He cited several examples of properties that looked fine from the exterior, but had deteriorating walls, roofs and upper floors, or were used as trash dump locations by owners.
“You can’t see those things from outside, so you’ve got to get inside, or we are never going to improve the housing stock,” Barhorst said. “I don’t think we can tear down enough houses to do what we need to do.”
Council member Janet Born asked what can the city do about properties that are falling down if owners do nothing about it.
Amick said the city has local means for dealing with dangerous buildings. He said the vacant buildings on the list may not have declined to that level of concern yet, but have potential to do so since no one is living there or attending to the up-keep. He said this program would be a tool the city can use to prevent these building becoming dangerous buildings.
In other business, council considered the ownership transfer of a D5 liquor permit to K Burdiss Investments, LLC, DBA KB S Taphouse, located at 111 S. Ohio Ave. Cundiff told council a review was completed by the Sidney Police Department and nothing unusual was found to object to the ownership transfer of the permit. Council exhibited silence on the matter, indicating consent for K Burdiss Investments, LLC to move forward with the next step to transfer the permit.
