Laserfiche WebLink
REGULAR MEETING NOVEMBER 26, 2007 <br />holes in the legislations. She noted that they had come up with two plans derived from <br />concerns of people living in the neighborhood to deal with vacant properties within the <br />community. The first is the dollar house program. The second is tearing down houses <br />that are beyond repair. This is what has been referred to as the third leg to those plans <br />and she believes that it will make a significant difference. The proposed bill defines what <br />a vacant property is and what an abandoned property is. Anyone who has a vacant or <br />abandoned property is required to have liability insurance. That means that if you live <br />next door to a vacant or abandoned property and it catches on fire and burns the <br />neighbors property, the person that owns that home will have liability insurance that will <br />pay for the damage done to the neighbors property. The owner of a vacant or abandoned <br />property will have to have a designated person who manages the property that lives <br />within fifty (50) miles. She noted that there are a lot of people who live outside the <br />community, some very far away and then there are those that live locally, but the bill <br />stated that they must have a designated person that will respond to any problems on the <br />property. The bill also requires that people have some uniformity in boarding up their <br />homes. They will have to contact the Department of Code Enforcement, they cannot just <br />through something together, they need to make sure that it is safe and secure, so that <br />vagrants, drug dealers, and people who want to do inappropriate things in the <br />neighborhoods cannot just go and squat on a property. There also needs to be a plan to <br />bring these kinds of properties back into use. She stated that the purpose of this <br />ordinance is to bring buildings back into productive use. For a period of time there will <br />be free registration, so they are really hoping that people will celebrate this and cooperate <br />and register and to reward them there won't be any charge for registering for awhile. <br />Councilmember Pfeifer stated that she along with several city officials attended a <br />conference on vacant and abandoned housing in Pittsburgh, PA. She stated that there <br />were people from all over the country who attended. The good news is that vacant and <br />abandoned property isn't just a South Bend issue. She stated that is the good and bad <br />new and that South Bend isn't the only City that it is happening to, it is happening all <br />over the country. A lot of the problem stems from the unsavory mortgage lenders who <br />conspired consciously to take advantage of people. There are a variety of other reasons <br />to blame also. She believes that this is a good bill; a lot of good work went into this <br />ordinance. She stated that anyone that has a problem property needs to contact Code <br />Enforcement or the Mayor's Office, because the City has all kinds of programs to help <br />people, but there are some people who don't care about neighborhoods, don't care about <br />the City of South Bend and they own property and allow it to fall is disarray. They have <br />no intention of fixing the property up and so those are the people that this kind of <br />legislation is going after. <br />This being the time heretofore set for the Public Hearing on the above bill, proponents <br />and opponents were given an opportunity to be heard. <br />Mr. Jeff Vitton, Community & Economic Development, 12th Floor County-City Building, <br />South Bend, Indiana, stated that the CED supports this bill because it supports a goal in <br />City Plan that is to identify vacant and abandoned properties and bring them back to <br />productive use that is located in the Housing Chapter of City Plan. He stated that it is <br />very important to have updated information on what properties are vacant and <br />abandoned. Mr. Vitton stated that it is very important to have updated information on the <br />location of vacant and abandoned housing. He quoted from a study called Terra <br />Incognita Vacant Land and Urban Strategies "Without a viable database containing <br />information about derelict property throughout a city a systematic response to vacant will <br />prove elusive and policy will likely fall short of the intended effect for decision makers <br />both public and private to design successful strategies information about vacant land and <br />abandoned structures needs to be accurate timely and computerized." Basically what the <br />study is saying is to utilize the other programs that the City has at it disposal like the <br />abandoned building demolition and the dollar house program this will compliment those <br />programs very well. <br />Ms. Ann-Carol Nash, Assistant City Attorney, 14th Floor County-City Building, South <br />Bend, Indiana, stated that she had the pleasure of working with Councilmember Pfeifer <br />and all of the people that she mentioned and it was a delightful collaboration and is very <br />pleased to be able to bring all of the insight and various strengths that were brought to the <br />6 <br />