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