(A) The city has determined that uninspected and unmonitored vacant structures may present a fire hazard; may provide temporary occupancy for transients (including drug abusers and traffickers); may detract from private and/or public efforts to rehabilitate or maintain surrounding buildings; and that the health, safety, and welfare of the public is served by the regulation of such vacant buildings.
(B) Owners of vacant structures shall register such vacant buildings with the city, make payment of a fee for the registration thereof, and otherwise conform to these vacant building regulations.
(C) It is the intent of this chapter that, through a registration, inspection, and monitoring process, vacant structures will be kept weather tight and secure from trespassers, will provide safe entry to police officers and firefighters in times of emergency, will not impede private and/or public efforts to rehabilitate or maintain surrounding properties, and will not present otherwise a public hazard.
(D) The city, by and through its departments (particularly the Building Code Enforcement Department) shall inspect and monitor vacant buildings, shall assess the effects of the condition of those buildings on nearby structures, and shall promote substantial efforts to rehabilitate and develop such buildings when appropriate.
(E) The provisions of this chapter shall streamline and consolidate the existing procedure (that is, complaint, research, notification, inspection, orders, fines, liens, appeals, and due process lien enforcement) by placing the responsibility to register and maintain a vacant structure on the owner of such structure before a condition of the structure falls into disrepair or otherwise merits a complaint.
(Ord. 2022-06, passed 3-7-2022)