(A) Owners of vacant, abandoned or neglected property located within the city or its extraterritorial zoning jurisdiction shall be required to register such property with the city if the property has been vacant 180 days or longer.
(B) The Program Administrator or his or her authorized agent or designee shall provide the owner with written notice that the Program Administrator has determined the property is vacant, abandoned or neglected.
(C) The notice shall be deemed delivered if properly served on the owner or his or her agent according to the established procedure for civil actions.
(D) If service cannot be made by personal service, residential service, certified mail service or designated delivery service, then notice shall be given by publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the city or by conspicuously posting on the property, structure, building or dwelling that is vacant, abandoned or neglected. Any notice given by publication or posting shall be deemed delivered seven days after such publication or posting.
(E) The owner or his or her agent must register the property or submit a written appeal of the Program Administrator’s determination to the city within 30 days after delivery of the written notice. If the owner fails to timely register the property or submit a written appeal, the city shall automatically register the property, and the owner may be subject to additional administrative fines or fees.
(F) All requests for appeals shall be processed through the city’s procedures for administrative hearings.
(G) An administrative hearing shall be held in front of a hearing board consisting of the Mayor and two Council members. Notice of the date, time and place of the hearing shall be provided to the owner at least ten days prior to the scheduled hearing.
(H) Upon initial registration of the property, a copy of the notice shall be recorded in the records of the Register of Deeds of the county in which the property is located and indexed against the premises.
(I) One hundred eighty days after the initial registration of the property or 360 days after the property is determined to be vacant, abandoned or neglected, whichever is sooner, the owner or his or her agent must submit a plan for occupancy, repair, rehabilitation or demolition of the property and pay the initial registration fee. Each 180 days thereafter, the owner or his or her agent must renew the registration, submit an updated plan and pay supplemental registration fees.
(J) Any subsequent owner or owners of any ownership interest in the property shall assume the obligations of the previous owner or owners and must register or update the registration of the property within 30 days of any transfer of ownership interest in the property.
(K) Vacant, abandoned or neglected property shall be removed from the registration database and no longer subject to the requirements of this article once the owner proves, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the property is no longer violating any building or zoning laws, rules or regulations.
(Ord. 970, passed 10-4-2022)