Infill and Redevelopment Annual Report and Code Enforcement Recommendations

Since 2011, I have co-chaired the Infill and Redevelopment Steering Committee which was created in 2000 after the Residential Infill Study.  I reported at Council Work Session on November 13th regarding the progress made in the last year.  You can watch it here.

The Committee is working to invigorate the Land Bank and the Vacant Property Review Commission, and combine the Public Art and Culture Master Plan Committee and the Urban County Arts Review Board.  One of the biggest achievements is the cooperation between Planning and the Property Valuation Administrator regarding vacant and underutilized property.  The Committee has also focused on GIS Development tracking and has made substantial recommendations regarding Code Enforcement.

The Code Enforcement recommendations have been referred to the Public Safety Committee and I discussed those in committee on December 4th.  You can see it here.  These recommendations address issues of efficiency, consistency, and transparency and include 1) revisions to the Code of Ordinances to make it easier to read, give specific time lines for enforcement, and increase penalties on subsequent offenders; 2) updates to the standard operating procedures; 3) making the International Property Maintenance Code, the Standard Operating Procedures, and field inspection form available on the website; 4) making the database available to the public (part of the GIS tracking initiative); 5) redrafting notice and letters sent to violators to make them more informative and user friendly while including all legal requirements; 6) hire an administrative position to file the Code Enforcement liens, draft and monitor abatement plans, and staff the Vacant Property Review Board; 7) hire a paralegal devoted solely to filing and managing foreclosure actions; and 8) contract with a hearing officer to handle Code Enforcement cases.  The Legal Department and Code Enforcement are scheduled to report back to the Public Safety Committee in 6 months on their progress in implementing these recommendations.  I am looking forward to hearing their reports.