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<br />renewed once per year, as with other business licenses, and inspections are done on a somewhat <br />regular basis to ensure ongoing compliance with zoning and building codes. <br />A rental licensing program may be an effective way of dealing with some of the concerns raised <br />regarding rental properties in Arden Hills. On the other hand, there are also costs to the program, <br />and the fees collected from licenses may not be enough to cover the expenses of administering it. <br />According to property data from July 2007, of the 2,874 occupied homes in Arden Hills, there <br />were 285 homes classified as non-homestead for tax purposes. Homestead classifications are <br />one way to determine if a property may be a rental. <br /> <br />There are a handful of communities in the Twin Cities that participate in a rental licensing <br />program. To date, staff has begun researching different rental licensing programs from a few of <br />these. The City of Shoreview is the only community in this area that has such a program. The <br />work plan for this project includes examining various options and weighing the costs of each <br />compared with the potential benefits and costs to the City. <br /> <br />Implementing a program such as this raises several questions that will need to be addressed <br />through the research process and prior to any decisions being made. Questions such as: <br /> <br />I. What are the goals of a rental licensing program? <br />2. How will the City monitor which properties are rentals and which are not? <br />3. Who will conduct the inspections? <br />4. What would be the penalties for non-compliance? <br />5. Would it be possible for the fees to cover the full cost ofthe program? <br />6. Who would administer the program? <br />7. What is the legal process for setting up a rental licensing program? <br /> <br />In order to better guide the research process and to examine the potential options, staff requests <br />that the Council provide any additional questions and concerns regarding this issue not already <br />listed above. <br /> <br />Work Plan <br /> <br />Staff has also started the initial research for an administrative fine program. While <br />administrative fines and rental licensing are important programs, staff resources are somewhat <br />limited, particularly with the Comprehensive Plan update, the Old City Hall RFP, and the County <br />Road E plan coming in 2008. While there may be some overlapping research between the rental <br />licensing and administrative fine programs, Staff is proposing to focus on rental licensing for the <br />first quarter of 2008 and then follow up with administrative fines. If an opportunity exists to <br />combine the research and/or implementation of both programs, staff will make every effort to do <br />so. If the City Council prefers to start with administrative fines, that program can be done first. <br />