PETOSKEY — After hearing concerns about vacant buildings scattered throughout the city — particularly in the central business district — the Petoskey City Council is working to find a way to fix the problem.
During their Monday, July 21 meeting, the council had a first reading of a proposed ordinance intended to regulate vacant buildings, providing the opportunity to enforce through fines and regulations.
During the Petoskey City Convention in June, ward representatives each spoke about issues they have heard from their constituents. All four wards mentioned concerns about vacant buildings downtown.
City manager Shane Horn said during the convention that the city was working on getting an ordinance drafted that would give the city the ability to regulate and enforce consistently vacant buildings, and try to limit bad actors who are not working to bring their buildings up to code.
“This is a crisis,” resident Michael Fitzgerald said during the convention. “Let’s treat it as a crisis.”
During the July 21 meeting, council members had a first reading of the proposed ordinance, which would allow a code enforcement officer to issue citations on vacant buildings throughout the city.
The council had extensive conversation on the draft document, debating and changing the timelines for a building to be considered vacant.
The council also took issue with many of the specifics written within the ordinance, including what could be considered a vacant building. That inclusion would require homeowners to submit a form saying they would not be home and not to consider the property vacant. That was a concern for council given the number of vacation properties in the city.
Another major point discussed during the meeting was if a building went unused for 60 days, it would be considered vacant. Then, within 14 days, the building would have to be added to a registry to allow the city to keep an eye on the issue, allowing it to make forward progress or be at risk of paying different fines, for example.
Council member Lindsey Walker said she was concerned some exemptions — including the property being on the market, a building being under active construction or being a multi-tenant building — could leave loopholes for bad actors who are not interested in improving or maintaining their buildings.
One of the city’s attorneys, Mackenzie Almassian, said different options can be drafted and prepared for the next meeting for the council to choose between.
Mayor John Murphy said because of how many changes the ordinance needs, the council will likely hold another first reading at their next regular meeting, scheduled for 6 p.m. on Aug. 5. Council would likely vote on the ordinance at their Aug. 19 meeting.
— Contact reporter Karly Graham at kgraham@petoskeynews.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @KarlyGrahamJrn.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: ‘This is a crisis’: Petoskey council proposes ordinance to regulate vacant buildings
Reporting by Karly Graham, The Petoskey News-Review / The Petoskey News-Review
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