Owners or operators acting on the behalf of owners of apartment multiple-dwelling unit complexes having twenty (20) or more dwelling units per apartment dwelling complex shall be eligible to apply to the City for an exemption from being charged for individual dwelling units which are certified as being "uninhabitable" dwelling units by the City pursuant to the following application procedure available to the owners and operators of such apartment dwellings:
A. The owner or operator must make application for exemption of payment for each dwelling unit for which the exemption is being sought that the units in question are "uninhabitable" and as defined shall mean that the dwelling unit or units in question are in such a state and condition that they are not suitable for being occupied by tenants because a reasonable modicum of safety and comfort cannot be afforded such tenants in such units. Said application must be made to and filed with the City Clerk's Office accompanied by an administrative application fee in such amounts as follows: Ten dollars ($10.00) for up to a maximum with one dollar ($1.00) per each additional unit per apartment complex location per application;
B. The owner or operator must provide the City building inspector or his designated agent with free access to inspect all units for which an exemption is being applied. After inspecting each particular unit for which the exemption has been applied, the building inspector or his designated agent shall determine, in their sole discretion, whether said unit or units can be deemed "uninhabitable", as defined hereinabove, and they shall certify their findings as to whether said unit or units qualify for the exemption applied for and submit the same to the City Clerk's Office. In the event the building inspector or his designated agent find that the unit or units applied for do not qualify for the exemption, the owner or operator applicant shall have ten (10) days to appeal their findings, after notice thereof by the City Clerk's Office and notice that the exemption applied for is being denied on the basis of said findings, to a review panel composed of the Mayor, the Administrative Assistant and City Clerk if the City Clerk's Office within said ten (10) day period and the decision of the review panel shall be final;
C. Should the City determine that the unit or units applied for qualify for the exemption, the exemption from garbage service charges for each such unit shall thereupon take effect for a period not to exceed six (6) months from the date the exemption is granted by the City, or upon such time as the owner or operator renders the unit or units into a habitable condition or is subsequently found by the City that the unit or units are no longer uninhabitable, whichever comes first, except that the owner or operator may apply for a renewal of the exemption for an additional period not to exceed six (6) months by resubmitting a new application and fee as specified hereinabove;
D. During the effective term of any exemption granted by the City for any particular apartment dwelling unit, the owner or operator shall be required to disclose to the City any change in the habitability status of said unit or units. Failure by the owner or operator to provide such disclosure of change in the status to the City shall be grounds, upon its discovery of such lack of disclosure and a finding that the status of a particular unit no longer makes said unit qualify for the exemption which had been applied for and granted, for the City to immediately thereupon review said exemption, to issue current billing charges for garbage service for said unit, and to hold the owner or operator in arrearage for all service fees which would have been chargeable as of and upon the date said unit was no longer found to be uninhabitable by the City. (Ord. 706 §2, 1991)
Notes
| 1 | 1. See section 13.04.070 of this Code. |