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HomeMy Public PortalAbout001-2021 - Establishing a Policy With Genereal Criteria for Evaulations to Grant Proposed Variamces or Prescribe Condintinons UNSAFE BUILDING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND, INDIANA RESOLUTION NO. 1-2021 A RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING A POLICY WITH GENERAL CRITERIA FOR EVAULATIONS TO GRANT PROPOSED VARIANCES OR TO PRESCRIBE CONDITIONS WHEREAS, The City of Richmond, Indiana ("City"), previously implemented a process wherein the Code Enforcement Department of the City has engaged in comprehensive practices in order to efficiently coordinate enforcement of certain Richmond City Code provisions which are generally and predominantly related to preventing or halting blight,including,but not limited to,property upkeep, exterior maintenance, and real property care and maintenance with respect to trash, litter, weeds, rank vegetation, as well as all manner of visible property concerns and property safety concerns on both public and private property; and WHEREAS, On August 26, 2021, the Richmond Board of Public Works and Safety of the City of Richmond, Indiana, approved a certain housekeeping resolution to delegate certain executive and administrative review processes to the Richmond Unsafe Building Commission with a preliminary review by the City's Law Department for due process compliance and for review of the timeliness of any request for appeal or review,.which previous housekeeping resolution had been distributed to the Unsafe Building Commission("UBC")members upon passage; and WHEREAS, In connection with certain non-abatement appeal matters which are,or which might be, submitted by a petitioner in accordance with Richmond City Code ("RCC") 150.18(d),the UBC is authorized to grant any special variances or relief to exterior maintenance provisions contained in RCC 150.18 and is permitted to prescribe any conditions or requirements deemed necessary to minimize adverse effects upon the community; and WHEREAS, In accordance with its delegated authority, the UBC may develop standards and procedures for the implementation and enforcement of the variance and conditions provisions pursuant to RCC 150.18(d); and WHEREAS, It is in the best interest of the City that the Mayor of the City and the Unsafe Building Commission of the City establish a policy to outline criteria which the UBC would use for evaluation in the event a petitioner seeks an appeal under RCC Page 1 of 4 :i 150.18 of the exterior maintenance standards and variances or conditions are requested or are reasonably related to the matter if properly or timely appealed. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE UNSAFE BUILDING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND,INDIANA,with the support of the Mayor of the City of Richmond, Indiana,that the following policy provisions shall be criteria that the Unsafe Building Commission will take into consideration in the event a petitioner seeks an appeal under RCC 150.18 and variances or conditions are requested or are reasonably related to the matter as properly or timely appealed: 1. Policy-Incorporation of Recitals and General Statements. a. The foregoing Recitals of this Resolution are fully incorporated herein by reference into this Policy. Considerations to determine whether a proposed variance should be permitted or denied or to determine whether a condition should be imposed may include, but shall not be limited to, any combination of the included points or questions on the matter contained within this Policy. b. The designated City board or City commission will or may consider any reasonable factors, statements by petitioner(s), written information, concessions, contributing or extenuating circumstances, common-sense approaches, or public records which may exist for each matter on a case-by-case basis. c. Any of the below criteria may be considered in the event the City, by and through its Enforcement Authority or other designated staff, is inclined or required to temporarily halt or "stay" any non-abatement processes and the City instead determines City should instead consider any processes which may be appropriate to abate any alleged violations in accordance with the City's Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) for zoning or other violations, in accordance with the City's Unsafe Building Code Ordinance for abatement-related enforcement authority actions due to local code violations, or in accordance with any other state law or regulation which may supersede the non-abatement processes. 2. Policy-Terms. a. For purposes of this Policy, a"variance" of exterior maintenance standards shall be defined as a specific approval granted by the designated City board or City commission to deviate from the exterior maintenance standards that the City's exterior maintenance code provisions otherwise prescribes. b. For purposes of this Policy, a "condition" shall be defined as a reasonable stipulation or a reasonable provision set forth by the designated City board or City commission which is required as a prerequisite for approval of a matter under review within the scope of this Policy. _ Page 2 of 4 S c. For purposes of this Policy, "blight" shall be defined as any property situation, circumstance, or use which spoils, deteriorates, impairs, destroys, or causes damage or other adverse impact to structures, the property, neighboring premises, or surrounding areas. 3. Policy - Criteria for Evaluation to Grant Variances or Prescribe Conditions. a. What is the nature of the asserted exterior maintenance violation? Why did the alleged violation occur? What measures, if any, have been taken by the petitioner to correct the alleged violation or has a plan of action been submitted to City enforcement staff? b How are neighboring property owners impacted by any asserted violations? How would any proposed variances or any proposed conditions which might be approved potentially impact the petitioner or any neighboring property owners? Would the denial of any proposed variances or the denial of any proposed conditions potentially impact the petitioner or any neighboring property owners? c. Will the property owner agree on the record or in writing to the proposed conditions? d. Are there any potential health and safety concerns which may occur if variances are granted or if conditions are imposed? Are there any other reasonable concerns which may occur which may contribute to blight or any reasonable potential future blight? e. Are there any specific physical property characteristics which impact the ability or inability of the petitioner to maintain his or her property as required? It is not the policy of the Unsafe Building Commission nor the City to entertain costs as a factor with respect to routine or standard exterior maintenance matters. f. Has City staff been given the opportunity to review or entertain the requested variance or proposed condition for due diligence? Does the matter need to be temporarily tabled to determine how the matters might reasonably impact neighboring properties or might reasonably impact blight? g. How will the proposed variance alleviate the alleged violation? How will the proposed condition assist with the alleviation of the alleged violation? 4. Constitutionality. In the event any portion of this Resolution or any associated policy provisions are declared to be unconstitutional or invalid by a court of law, such decision shall not Page 3 of 4 affect the validity of the remaining portions of the same so long as enforcement of same can be given the same effect. THIS RESOLUTION IS ADOPTED THIS to 4 k day of No o v.?M jer , 2021. Unsafe Building Commission of the City of Richmond, Indiana 141 w Dwayne He ter, President APPROVED: Sue Matthews,Member By: kag L vid . now, ayor Diane Whitehead, Member Page 4 of 4