Washington committee prepares vacant building code

WASHINGTON — A committee of city residents, officials and business leaders say they’re close to completing a proposed new ordinance governing vacant and partially vacant buildings in Washington’s downtown district.

If approved after its formal recommendation to the city council, the new municipal code would likely take effect sometime in October. It would require that unused buildings be registered with the city, with owners paying an annual fee set by the city’s elected officials, although an earlier draft of the code suggested an amount of $25 with a penalty of $10 per day for late submissions.

The buildings would be subject to occasional “on-site evaluations” to determine the structure’s compliance with several maintenance standards as well as already established fire, building, and housing safety codes.

The newly spelled out maintenance standards include things like weatherproofing, keeping utilities in operational order even if they’re not connected, removal of hazardous materials, preventing pests, and generally keeping the structure intact.

Members of the committee said their early meetings focused mainly on defining vacancy itself. The tentatively agreed-upon language says a building is vacant, “if it is unoccupied and/or no person currently resides in the building or operates a lawful business open regularly for business for a period of one year.”

The definition also encompasses “partially vacant buildings including any floor that is at least 50% vacant above basement level.” The rules make an exception for buildings under construction, but add that, “Storage (of) products or materials unrelated to a business does not constitute occupancy.”

Committee Member Paul Horak said the provision about partial vacancy was important.

“We have to have some type of wording in here that addresses buildings with vacant floors,” he said. “It’s really important that someone put eyes on the inside of those places. Wouldn’t you feel more comfortable if you knew somebody from the city at least looked at that partially empty building?”

While municipal discussions on the proposed new code began long ago and first saw city council attention in mid-April, Horak said the delay for deliberations may have improved the rules’ popularity thanks to headline-grabbing issues with other allegedly neglected buildings in the state in recent weeks.

“We’ve got a pretty good time to be doing this, because of the stuff that’s happened in Davenport and Oelwein,” he said. “I mean, how crazy would you be to not have it addressed?”

City Administrator Deanna McCusker said the committee planned to meet for one more review of the rules before recommending them to the city council. That gives it a rough timeline of implementation sometime in October, assuming it doesn’t meet major resistance during the public reading process required for all ordinance changes.

She said the new rules would be a key safety precaution, and would hopefully couple with city efforts to connect owners to historical preservation resources.

“What happens is, a roof gets a small hole, and nobody knows it or they don’t care,” she said. “And then rain gets in, snow gets in, it becomes a bigger issue, then it affects the structure of that building. And being downtown, it can affect the security, stability of neighboring buildings.”

Mayor Pro Tem Millie Youngquist said the guidelines would also help keep the area’s most visible buildings presentable.

“We’re not here to punish anyone, but we want to encourage people to use their properties and develop them,” she said. “We have a historic downtown, and we want to take care of it.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com