Vacant property proposal sent to Ordinance Committee

Havre City Council’s Vacant Properties Ad-Hoc Committee took the next step Thursday in creating a Vacant Properties Registry Ordinance, and a state representative said he plans to bring the issue up in next year’s Legislature, as well.

The council created the Ad-Hoc Committee in June 2017 after Montana State University-Northern grant writer Samantha Clawson raised concerns at council meetings about vacant properties being allowed to deteriorate. Her concerns included multiple properties that Sunrise Financial had obtained by buying tax liens, had not maintained and had either refused to sell to interested buyers or asked prices higher than the market value.

The city previously had said Sunrise, and owners of other vacant properties in Havre, were not violating any laws, leading to Clawson’s bringing up the idea of creating some kind of ordinance.

Clawson, who is the wife of City Council member Caleb Hutchins, was unable to attend the meeting Thursday due to other personal obligations.

The proposal the Ad-Hoc Committee sent to the Ordinance Committee states that vacant property owners must be able to show a plan or action in order to no longer require registering their property as vacant. Fees will be applied to these vacant properties to reduce the cost to the city government and community and are structured in order to give appropriate incentives for the owner or owners of vacant buildings to care for their properties, seek to fill them with tenants or in appropriate cases demolish the buildings.

Vacant property owners, according to the ordinance, have to register their names and addresses and if the owner or owners live outside of a 60-mile-radius of the Havre city limits a property agent, manager or caretaker residing within city limits must be designated and identified by name, address and telephone number.

The owners of the vacant buildings  will have to pay a registration fee of $100 for the first year, for every consecutive year the building remains vacant an annual fee from the previous year will be assessed plus an additional $100. The ordinance states that the maximum fee after five years will be set at $500.

Timelines and exemptions

Council member Caleb Hutchins, a member of the Ad-Hoc Committee and chair of the Ordinance Committee, said that, under the proposal, after a property is determined to be vacant property owners have 180 days with one 180 extension allowed to comply with the ordinance or to ask for an exemption. He said it might take two years for people to become accustomed to and educated about the ordinace, and he expected the first two years to consist of many appeals and exemptions.

The ordinance also outlines cases in which properties could be exempted and also allows property owners to appeal their case if they feel the fee applied was unjust.

The Ad-Hoc Committee unanimously passed the proposed ordinance and will propose it to the Ordinance Committee at the beginning of next year.

State Rep. Jacob Bachmeier, D-Havre, who is also a member of the Ad-Hoc Committee, said after the meeting that he thought the meeting went well and he is confident that City Council will approve of the work they have done. He added that he has a similar bill he will be introducing to the Legislature next session in Helena. The bill he will be introducing, he said, will require the state to adopt a vacant property registration act as a state law.

The Ad-Hoc Committee met with the Ordinance Committee June 28 and presented a comprehensive list of requests for the ordinance. During that meeting, Mayor Tim Solomon and the Ordinance Committee requested that the Ad-Hoc Committee speak to the county attorney to make sure the requests were legal.

Hutchins said Thursday that after the Ad-Hoc Committee spoke to the attorney, the members felt comfortable to write the ordinance. He added that much of the language for the ordinance was borrowed from a similar ordinance used in Bellefontaine, Ohio.

Hutchins said the attorney requested they avoid requiring internal inspections of vacant properties due to officials needing to obtain a search warrant in order to search a property. The attorney also requested the maximum registration fee be set at $500 in order for the fee to be in line with other existing ordinances such as nuisance weed fines.

Providing incentives for improvements

He said the purpose of the ordinance is to establish a program for identifying and registering vacant buildings, to determine the responsibilities of the property owners and to provide incentives for rehabilitation and productive use of the vacant buildings.

“Structures which are left vacant for extended periods of time have been shown to breed crime, pose public safety risks, and reduce property values and the economic viability of the neighborhood and community in which they are found,” the ordinance states.

The ordnance lists how the city will determine the definition of a vacant property and, once the evidence of vacancy is determined, how owners of these properties will register these properties with the city. The ordinance also gives power to the city to fine vacant property owners.

“In all areas within the limits of the City of Havre, an owner of a structure which meets the definition of a ‘vacant building’ … shall register such structure with the Ordinance Enforcement Officer,” the ordinance said.

The Havre Police Department said this morning that any officer may act as an ordinance enforcement officer, ticketing people according to city ordinances.

Ad-Hoc Committee member Marc Whitacre said this may be a large job and City Council should consider hiring a full-time ordinance enforcement officer to help with the workload.

Bachmeier said a few parts of the ordinance interested him such as section D in the fees section.

Section D states that if owners refuse or fail to pay the registration fee the enforcement officer or their representative shall certify such unpaid charges to City Council where they can determine if the fee will be applied as a special property tax.

Bachmeier said this is good because it forces property owners who are in violation of this act to pay the fees.

Hutchins said he was very pleased with how everything turned out in the meeting and looks forward to this going to City Council after it passes through the Ordinance Committee. He said the Ordinance Committee should be able to look at this ordinance in a timely manner, at the beginning of next year.

Vacant properties in the Legislature

The bill that Bachmeier will be introducing in the Legislature will be to identify and register all vacant properties; collect fees, create plans for rehabilitation for properties and encourage occupancy of vacant properties. He said much like the ordinance the Ad-Hoc Committee is trying to pass through City Council.

Bachmeier said this bill will give power to local governments to identify vacant properties and have citywide registration databases.

The unofficial draft copy of the bill, sent to the Havre Daily News this morning, says that the initial fee will be no more than $250 for residential properties and no more than $1,000 for commercial properties.

It adds that registration fees may be refundable for the year preceding the date on which the property is no longer vacant.

Payment of fees must be made up to 180 day after the property is declared vacant, the bill said.

Bachmeier said his bill also would allow for exemptions and for people to appeal if they feel it is needed.