Cheney to require property registration

By JOHN McCALLUM

Managing Editor

Cheney’s City Council approved 11 of 12 new ordinances on its Jan. 22 agenda in what constituted a major rewrite of some of its municipal code chapters on development and maintenance of property.

The 12th measure, Ordinance X-38 on “Public Property and Facilities, was removed by a motion from Councilwoman Teresa Overhauser at the request of Public Works Director Todd Ableman, who said additional time was needed to better align the new requirements with those in the code’s Chapter 12 on streets and sidewalks.

While some of the ordinances dealt with housekeeping items such as removing out-of-date topics and creating new chapters, several instituted new codes and procedures. One ordinance, X-37, created a “Foreclosure Registration Program” requiring lenders “or other responsible party(ies) in the foreclosure process to register such properties with the City to protect the neighborhoods from the negative impact of absentee ownership including lack of adequate maintenance and security.”

“It’s been one of our biggest struggles in code enforcement, trying to find the right person to get a hold of,” City Administrator Mark Schuller told the council.

Properties under foreclosure are required to be registered with the city within 10 days of going into foreclosure “upon initial inspection” or following receipt of the notice by the city and must be registered every 12 months until no longer in foreclosure. Registration information includes proof of ownership or financial interest, contact information for the owner, lender and responsible parties along with a 24-hour contact phone number and documentation showing the property is in foreclosure.

While under foreclosure, the responsible parties are required to maintain property including keeping it free of weeds, dry brush, dead vegetation, junk and other debris; newspapers, circulars and/or flyers and graffiti and similar tagging markings. The property must be secured against entry by unauthorized persons, monitored and owners must “take any other action necessary to prevent giving the appearance that the property is abandoned.”

Parties registering foreclosed property with the city must pay a non-refundable fee and agree to cover the costs of any mitigation measures the city must undertake to remedy any violations. Properties subject to these requirements but not registered will be subject to a Class 1 civil infraction while registered properties failing to maintain them according to code will be guilty of a criminal misdemeanor violation and subject to all penalties.

In adopting Ordinance X-42, the council updated the city’s standards for naming streets and address selection. Councilman Paul Schmidt said the new chapter provides a more defined appeals process through the local hearing examiner, something that could alleviate the city from being responsible for covering any costs incurred from having to remedy consequences of unauthorized street names and addresses.

“This gets us in to the modern era of addressing,” Schmidt said.

Ordinance X-36 essentially adopted requirements of the International Property Maintenance Code into the city’s current chapter 17. Councilman John Taves pointed to one section in the new code addressing weeds that required “Premises and exterior property shall be maintained free from weeds or plant growth in excess of 10 inches.”

“That makes it tough for plants and flowers,” Taves said, referencing the height restrictions. Mayor Chris Grover proposed removing “plant” from the verbiage and the council agreed.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].