2004_0823_Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

2) Provide an exterior onlv maintenance regulation for owner occupied single family housing units, improving the street appeal and value of single family neighborhoods. 3) Reduce litter, weeds, and vehicles parked in yards through a concerted code compliance process — either by district or by longer term even handled city-wide enforcement. 4) Begin the upgrading of the mobile home park. In order to respond to the request far further wark on the housing preservation aspects of the code, further direction is needed from the Council/Mayor, Manager, and now, the HRA. Here are some of the issues that still need further thought: l. What is the intent of the code...health, safety, and protection of community property values? How far should the code "reach"? �, Should the city code deal with rental housing inspection - both interior and exterior - and with the upkeep of the exterior and yard of detached single family homes? Such standards are a�ailable. �. What happens in townhouse and condo proj ects - do we inspect only those units which are rented or should the city inspect all units because of the densitv of the proj ect? Should the city/HRA be warking more pro-actively with the associations in these projects? If the city code is intended to deal with health and safety as well as protect property value, should it also deal with inspection of mobile homes (at least exterior)? Is a detached single family home that is rented treated as rental in terms of inspection? In other words, should the city inspectionprocess include both the interior and exterior of rented single family units? Who should staff such an effort? Building inspection services are now at capacity and will be for years. Should the HRA assist in the inspection and include part time or (full time) housing inspection services? Whoever the new inspectors are, they will need access to existing records witl�in both the planning and building inspection files. In addition to one inspector to start, one clerical position would be necessary to support this inspection and record keeping effort. This activity would require a$60,000 to $80,000 expenditure annually. Would it be possible to contract for this service through the HRA or others? (This does not include legal fees needed to force compliance.) The costs for such a program could be funded by the HRA, with support from the City Council, through an HRA levy. �, In this time of tightened budgets, the staff assumes that this program must be at least partially self-supporting program through a fee or license revenue generated from inspection services. As an example, suppose there was a$10.00 annuallicense fee per unit charged each year for housing