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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08421As Amended 12/12/11 ORDINANCE NO. 8421 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLES IV AND VIII OF THE PUEBLO MUNICIPAL CODE RELATING TO PROPERTY MAINTENANCE AND THE INTERNATIONAL PROPERTY MAINTENANCE CODE AND PROVIDING REMEDIES AND PENALTIES FOR THE VIOLATION THEREOF BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF PUEBLO, that: (brackets indicate matter being deleted, underscoring indicates new matter being added) SECTION 1. Section 8-1-8 of Chapter 1 of Title VIII of the Pueblo Municipal Code, as amended, is hereby amended to read as follows: Sec. 8-1-8. Emergency Housing Rehabilitation Program. (a) A special housing rehabilitation revolving fund to be designated Emergency Housing Rehabilitation Fund is hereby established. Appropriations to said Fund may be made by the City Council by resolution. Payments out of said Fund shall be made by the Director of Finance upon the written request of the [] Director of the Department of Housing and Community Citizen Services based upon applications for assistance submitted and approved in accordance with the provisions of this Section. [ (b) The owner of any owner-occupied residential building who receives a Notice and Order under the International Property Maintenance Code, as adopted ] and amended by the Pueblo Municipal Code, as amended, qualifies under subsection (c) of this Section shall be entitled to make application for emergency [ housing rehabilitation assistance within thirty (30) days after receipt of said Notice ] Applications shall be timely made and Order occurrence of a qualifying event. [] to the Department of Housing and Community Citizen Services upon forms [ prepared by said Department. The Notice and Order given under the International Property Maintenance Code, as adopted and amended by the Pueblo Municipal Code, as amended, shall include reference to the emergency housing rehabilitation program and shall advise the owner of the owner-occupied residential building of the right to make application for assistance under said program specifying the minimum ] qualifications and the thirty-day-period within which application must be made. (c) The owner of an owner-occupied residential building may qualify and be eligible for emergency housing assistance if such owner either receives [] receiving a Notice and Order under the International Property Maintenance Code, as adopted and amended by the Pueblo Municipal Code, as amended, ("I.P.M.C.") or, if the I.P.M.C. is not applicable, receives notice from a code official that the residential building fails to meet requirements of any other building codes or ordinances of the City. In such case, the owner may apply for housing rehabilitation assistance if the income and assets, excluding the value of the building in question, of such owner, or of a family the head of which or whose spouse is the owner, are within the limits prescribed for persons or families occupying public housing in the City financed pursuant to Chapter 8, Title 42 United States Code. The [] Department of Housing and Community Citizen Services shall certify all owner- applicants meet such qualifications. The department will prepare an estimate of the costs of repairs required to rehabilitate said building to meet the standards of the Housing Code. [ (d) The City Council shall appoint seven (7) persons to a committee to be known as the Housing Rehabilitation Committee. Said appointments shall be for terms of three (3) years. The Committee shall be reorganized annually and a chairman and vice chairman elected for the coming year at a meeting of the Committee to be held in July of each year. The Committee shall meet at the request ][] of the The Director of the Department of Housing and Community Citizen [] Services and shall consider all applications for emergency housing rehabilitation assistance and, subject to available appropriations, may approve [ any application meeting the program requirements. act upon matters referred ] to the Committee by the Director. All grants of assistance shall be used only for repairs and rehabilitation of an owner-occupied residential building which will abate [ the conditions which make the building non-compliant with the International Property Maintenance Code, as adopted and amended by the Pueblo Municipal ] Code, as amended. I.P.M.C. or other building codes or ordinances. [] (e) The Department of Housing and Community Citizen Services shall not approve any application for assistance until after the Director of Finance shall [] certify in writing to the Director of the Department of Housing and Community Citizen Services that there are sufficient monies in the Emergency Housing Rehabilitation Fund for such grant of assistance and until after the Department of [] Housing and Community Citizen Services receives proof that the applicant-owner is the fee owner of said land and building. (f) The owner of any owner-occupied residential building who receives housing rehabilitation assistance shall enter into an agreement with the City, on forms to be approved by the City Attorney, to repay to the City such financial assistance based on existing loan formulas and criteria used within the Department [] of Housing and Community Citizen Services. Such repayment agreement shall be placed of record and shall become and remain a lien and encumbrance on the building and land upon which the building is located until paid in full. Said grant of assistance shall become due and payable immediately upon the transfer of title to said land and building by the owner, or, upon the death of the owner, unless title to said land and building shall pass to the spouse of or an issue of such owner who meets the qualification of Subsection (c) hereof, and the Department of Housing and [] Community Citizen Services shall certify the same in writing to the Director of Finance within sixty (60) days after the death of such owner. Failure of the surviving spouse or issue of the deceased owner to request and obtain such certification from [] the Director of the Department of Housing and Community Citizen Services within said sixty-day-period shall conclusively constitute a waiver of all rights of such surviving spouse or issue to further defer repayment of the grant of assistance. (g) All repayments of rehabilitation grants of assistance shall be credited to the Emergency Housing Rehabilitation Fund. (h) Nothing contained in this Section shall obligate the City Council to appropriate funds to the Emergency Housing Rehabilitation Fund. SECTION 2. Subsection (e) of Section 4-8-1 of Chapter 8 of Title IV, Pueblo Municipal Code, as amended, is amended to read as follows: Sec. 4-8-1. Legislative findings and purpose. . . . (e) City Council finds and declares that property maintenance problems related to commercial properties tend to be more destructive of neighborhood property values when the commercial property is open to the public, or had been open to the public at anytime within the immediately proceeding 24 months, and consists of five thousand (5,000) aggregate square feet or more of enclosed space. Therefore, the I.P.M.C. should first be applied to those properties before considering whether it should be applied to all commercial property. SECTION 3. Section 4-8-3 of Chapter 8 of Title IV, Pueblo Municipal Code, as amended, is hereby amended to read as follows: Sec.4-8-3. Applicability: [] (a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this Section, The the I.P.M.C. shall apply only to the following categories of property: [] (a) (1) Residential properties that are vacant, rented, or on hold for rental, including transient housing, rather than owner-occupied housing; [] (b) (2) Commercial properties that are open to the public or had been open to the public at anytime within the immediately preceding 24 [ months. and consist of at least five thousand (5,000) aggregate square feet ] of enclosed space, whether or not all of that space is open to the public. (b) Sections 301.3, 302.5, 308 and 309 of the I.P.M.C. shall apply to all property, buildings, structures and accessory structures regardless of use. SECTION 4. Subsections (j), (k), and (l) of Section 4-8-4 of Chapter 8 of Title IV of the Pueblo Municipal Code, as amended, are amended to read as follows: Sec. 4-8-4. Amendments to the I.P.M.C. The following subsections of the I.P.M.C. are hereby amended to read as follows: . . . (j) Subsection 111.1 Application for appeal. "Any person directly affected by a decision of the code official or a notice or order issued under this code shall have the right to appeal to the Property Maintenance [] Appeal Official Board of Appeals, provided that a written application for appeal is filed within 20 days after the day the decision, notice, or order was served. An application for appeal shall be based on a claim that the true intent of this code or the rules legally adopted thereunder have been incorrectly interpreted, the provisions of this code do not fully apply, or the requirements of this code are adequately satisfied by other means. " (k) Subsection 111.2 Membership of Board. "Whenever the term "board" or phrase "board of appeals" is used in this code, it shall mean the Property Maintenance Appeal Official. The Property [ Maintenance Board of Appeals shall consist of five members who are residents of the City and are not employees of the City. The board shall be appointed by City ] Council Appeal Official shall be a person designated by the City Manager to hear and determine an appeal, who may be an employee of the City, provided that the Appeal Official shall not have acted as the Code Official or a Code Enforcement Officer with respect to the subject matter of the appeal, nor be subject to supervision by the Code Official whose decision is being appealed." (l) Subsection 111.2.4 Staff Support for Board. "The Department of Planning and Development shall provide staff support for the [] Property Maintenance Board of Appeals Appeal Official. The Department responsible for the notice and order or other decision made against a person or property shall be responsible for presenting the evidence and other information in [] support of the notice and order or other decision on appeal to the Board Appeal Official. " . . . SECTION 5. This Ordinance and the amendments made hereto to Title IV of the Pueblo Municipal Code shall be subject to administration and enforcement in accordance with Sections 4-8-3, 4-8-6, 4-8-7 and 4-8-8 of the Pueblo Municipal Code, as amended. Any person who violates any provision of this Ordinance or the amendments made herein to Title IV of the Pueblo Municipal Code shall be guilty of a municipal offense and subject to punishment and other remedies as provided in Sections 4-8-7, 4-8-8 and 4-8-9 of the Pueblo Municipal Code, as amended. SECTION 6. This Ordinance shall become effective on March 1, 2012 at 12:01 a.m. INTRODUCED November 28, 2011 BY: Judy Weaver COUNCILPERSON PASSED AND APPROVED: December 12, 2011 Background Paper for Proposed ORDINANCE DATE: AGENDA ITEM # R-6 November 28, 2011 DEPARTMENT: Jerry M. Pacheco, City Manager Jenny Eickelman, Interim Deputy City Manager Law Department Thomas J. Florczak, City Attorney TITLE AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLES IV AND VIII OF THE PUEBLO MUNICIPAL CODE RELATING TO PROPERTY MAINTENANCE AND THE INTERNATIONAL PROPERTY MAINTENANCE CODE AND PROVIDING REMEDIES AND PENALTIES FOR THE VIOLATION THEREOF ISSUE Should the International Property Maintenance Code ("IPMC"), as adopted by the City, be amended? RECOMMENDATION Approve the Ordinance. BACKGROUND As explained during the Council Work Session on November 7, 2011, the City Manager met with affected City Departments and outside agencies to plan for implementation of the International Property Maintenance Code. As a result of that effort, minor changes are recommended to the IPMC which are made in the proposed Ordinance. These are summarized as follows: The Emergency Housing Rehabilitation Program is clarified to apply to owner-  occupied housing which fails to meet any of the City's applicable building codes and ordinances. It also provides for applications for assistance to be reviewed and approved by the Director of Housing and Citizen Services rather than a committee. The IPMC had applied to commercial property open to the public of 5,000 square  feel or larger. The ordinance clarifies that it applies if the property was open to the public at any time during the preceding 24 months. Appeals under the IPMC will be heard by an Appeal Official rather than a board  to streamline appeals while providing due process. The Appeal Official may not have acted as the code official or have been involved in the matter being appealed. The following sections of the IPMC would be made applicable to all properties of  every kind: §301.3 – vacant structures to be clean, safe, secure and sanitary so as not to cause blight or create health or safety problems. §302.5 – property to be kept free of rodent harborage and infestation. §308 – property to be kept free of rubbish, garbage, and abandoned refrigerators. Garbage containers to have lids and be leak proof. §309 – property to be kept free from insect and rodent infestation, and requires extermination where necessary. FINANCIAL IMPACT None anticipated.