(a) Notice. The Director must mail written notice, at least 10 days before the Director issues a permit to remove or demolish a building or structure, to the owner of each adjacent and confronting lot. The applicant must give the Department the name and address of the owner of each adjacent and confronting lot. The notice must identify the building or structure to be demolished or removed, specify the process for issuing the permit and the time limit to appeal the issuance of a permit to the Board of Appeals, and include any other information the Director finds useful. The Director need not deliver this notice if unsafe conditions require immediate demolition or removal of the building or structure.
(b) Signage. The Director need not deliver the notice required by subsection (a) if, at least 10 days before the Director issues a permit to remove or demolish a building or structure, the applicant posts at a conspicuous location on the lot a sign describing the proposed demolition or removal, specifying the process for issuing the permit and the time limit to appeal the issuance of a permit to the Board of Appeals, and including any other information the Director requires. The sign must conform to design, content, size, and location requirements set by regulation under Section 8-13(a).
(c) Special notice for older buildings. At least 30 days before the Director issues a permit to demolish or remove a building, other than a single-family dwelling, that will be more than 25 years old when it is demolished or removed, the Director must list the address of the property on a properly designated website or other widely available form of electronic notice.
(d) Notice to utilities. Before the Director may issue a demolition or removal permit, the applicant must notify each connected public utility and obtain a written release confirming that all service connections and appurtenant equipment, such as meters and regulators, have been safely disconnected and sealed.
(e) Permit requirement; conditions. A person must not demolish or remove a building or structure unless the Director has issued a permit to do so under this Section. Each demolition or removal permit must require the applicant to:
(1) before demolishing or removing a building or structure, exterminate any rodents or other pests in it;
(2) after demolition or removal, clear all construction and demolition debris;
(3) restore the established grade of the surrounding land, unless a sediment control permit is otherwise required; and
(4) at all times keep the site free from any unsafe condition.
(f) Bond or surety. Each applicant for a demolition or removal permit must file a performance bond, cash, certificate of guarantee, or surety with the Department, in an amount equal to the cost of demolition or removal, to assure the safe and expedient demolition or removal of the building or structure and clearing of the site. If the building or structure is not demolished or removed and the site is not cleared of all debris within the time specified in the permit, but not sooner than 60 days after the permit is issued, the Director may enter the property, demolish or remove the building or structure, clear the site of debris, and take action to forfeit the performance bond, enforce the guarantee, or otherwise reimburse the Department for its cost.
(g) Definitions. As used in this Section:
(1) Demolish means to tear down or destroy an entire building or structure, or sixty-seven (67) percent or more of first story exterior walls of a one-family or two-family dwelling unit. Demolish includes the conversion of an exterior wall into an interior wall. Basement and cellar walls are not considered exterior walls; and
(2) Remove means to move a building or structure substantially intact from or within a site. (1975 L.M.C., ch. 1, § 3; 2002 L.M.C., ch. 24, § 1; 2023 L.M.C., ch. 16.)