Any responsible party that is aggrieved by the decision of the Board of Adjustment may appeal the decision to the City Manager within ten days from the date of the decision appealed from. In the event, the City Manager shall set a time and date for hearing the appeal and hold the hearing within 45 days from the date of the appeal.
(A) The purpose of the public hearing of the appeal shall be to determine whether or not the building is an unsafe building or a dangerous building in accordance with the standards set forth in § 150.21 and to uphold, reverse or modify the decision of the Board of Adjustment.
(B) The matter shall be set for public hearing before the City Manager at the earliest practicable date and notice of the hearing shall be served on the responsible parties, each known mortgagee and lien holder, and the Building Official not less than ten days prior to date of the hearing. All interested persons shall have the opportunity to be heard and may introduce evidence to the City Manager for his or her consideration.
(C) After the public hearing the City Manager shall make findings and orders as he or she shall deem appropriate.
(D) After the public hearing, if a building is found in violation of standards set out in § 150.21 of this subchapter, the City Manager may order that the decision of the Board of Adjustment be affirmed, reversed or modified and, in the latter instance, that the building be vacated, secured, repaired, removed or demolished by the owner within a reasonable time. The City Manager also may order that the occupants be relocated within a reasonable time. The City Secretary shall mail to each identified owner, mortgagee and lien holder a notice containing:
(1) An identification and address of the building and the property on which it is located;
(2) A description of the violation of the code of ordinances (if any) that is found by the City Manager to be present at the building; and
(3) A statement that the municipality will vacate, secure, remove, repair or demolish the building or relocate the occupants of the building if the ordered action is not taken within a reasonable time, or that the city will take no action.
(E) As an alternative to the procedure prescribed by division (D) described above the City Manager shall make an effort to contact each mortgagee and lien holder before conducting the public hearing and shall give them a notice of and an opportunity to comment at the hearing. If the city proceeds under this division, the order issued by the City Manager shall specify a reasonable time for the building to be vacated, secured, repaired, removed or demolished by the responsible party and an additional reasonable time for the ordered action to be taken by any of the mortgagees or lien holders in the event the responsible party fails to comply with the order within the time provided for action by the responsible party. Under this division, the city is not required to furnish any notice to a mortgagee or lien holder other than a copy of the order in the event the responsible party fails to timely take the ordered action.
(F) If the building is not vacated, secured, repaired, removed or demolished or the occupants are not relocated within the allotted time, the city may vacate, secure, remove, repair or demolish the building or relocate the occupants at its own expense.
(G) If the city incurs expenses under division (F) above, the city may assess the expenses on the property and the city has a lien against the property, unless it is a homestead as protected by the State Constitution, on which the building was or is located. The lien is extinguished if the property owner or another person having an interest in the legal or equitable title to the property reimburses the city for the expenses. The lien arises and attaches to the property at the time the notice of the lien is recorded and indexed in the office of the County Clerk. The notice must contain the name and address of the owner if that information can be determined by a reasonable effort, a legal description of the real property on which the building was or is located, the amount of expenses incurred by the city and the balance due.
(H) If the notice is given and the opportunity to repair, remove or demolish the building is afforded to each mortgagee and the lien holder as provided in divisions (D) or (E) above, the lien is a privileged lien subordinate only to tax liens and all previously recorded bona fide mortgage liens attached to the real property to which the city’s lien attaches.
(Ord. 408B, passed 6-23-2009)