City looks to force property owners to fix up eyesores-Code changes may be forthcoming
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McMinnville officials are considering changes to existing codes that would require property owners to fix up or clean up their land.
While some property owners will not be happy with any code that requires them to improve their property, some will like that it protects their property value against others who don’t value theirs.
‘Your neighbors shouldn’t have to look at your mess everyday and have your property devalued to the point where it affects theirs,’ said Alderman Billy Wood. ‘If you’re trying to keep your property nice, why should you suffer. That is what the city is there for, to protect those people.’
Wood knows of at least one building in a residential area that has been abandoned and allowed to deteriorate.
‘I can’t recall how many times it has been vandalized, because it is sitting there empty,’ Wood said. ‘Kids with nothing to do during the summer will break a window, party, whatever. It just degrades the property values of everybody else.’
In agreement with that is Mayor Royce Davenport, who recently went to look at a piece of property and next door was a house with most of the windows gone. Although he was there to look at a nice house, the dilapidated property next door grabbed his attention and prevented him from getting serious about buying the house.
Changes to the codes would require property owners to keep their property from becoming the ugly property next door and reducing the property values of everyone else. In order to do this, there will be fines.
If the codes are adopted, Davenport suggested the city start by making a list and start inspecting properties. If problems are found, give the property owners 30 days notice. In 30 days, if they haven’t made substantial progress, bring them to city court. Once in court, charge them a $50 fine, per day if necessary, and give them 30 more days.
According to Planning and Zoning director Jim Brock, his department already has what they call a ‘Top 10 List’ of buildings in the city that are in extremely bad condition and the property owners won’t fix the property and/or they won’t show up to court. Of those that do show up in court, they pay a fine, do no work to their property and refuse to return to court, Brock says.
When situations like these are turned over to legal counsel, the property owners have to go to ‘big court.’ Currently, the city has three cases such as these waiting for their day in General Sessions court.
Collection of fines could also be a problem. The city is unable to throw anyone in jail for not paying. However, the building could be demolished as an unfit structure and/or sold to collect what is owned.
To accomplish this, officials may have to increase the department’s budget. Two years ago, the city cut the budget of Planning and Zoning for unfit structure removal from $25,000 to $5,000. During the last three years, the department has taken down 12 structures each year. Demolition requires money up front, while recouping it takes time.
The concern regarding unsafe structures began when officials were informed some firefighters barely escaped injury when they entered the Dinty Moore building to fight the downtown fire and discovered there was no floor. Anyone who opened the door and took more than one step inside would have fallen about 10 feet.
A systematic inspection of buildings will begin once codes are established. Following that initial inspection, there will be an annual inspection to make sure buildings are within codes and kept that way. Also, once a permit is given for a project, a follow-up inspection will ensure the project is not abandoned and the building left unsafe.
At this time, there have been no changes made to the existing codes to make ugly buildings a codes violation.