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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-05-09 Policy Minutes, City Commission LINKED POLICY MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE CITY COMMISSION BOZEMAN, MONTANA February 5, 2009 ~****:x~:x*****:x:~=x*******~***** The Commission of the City of Bozeman met in the Commission Room, City Hall, 121 North Rouse on Thursday, February 5, 2009. Present were Mayor Kaaren Jacobson, Cr. Sean Becker, Cr. Eric Bryson, Cr. Jeff Krauss, Cr. Jeff Rupp, City Manager Chris Kukulski, Finance Director Anna Rosenberry, Staff Attorney Tim Cooper, Planning Assistant Director Chris Saunders, Planner Courtney Kramer and Deputy City Clerk Aimee Kissel. 0:00:13 A. Call to Order -Noon- 1:30 p.m. -City Commission Meeting Room, City Hall, 121 N. Rouse Mayor called the meeting to order. 0:00:13 B. Pledge of Allegiance and Moment of Silence 0:00:49 C. Public Comment Mayor Jacobson opened public comment. No person commented. Mayor Jacobson closed public comment. 0:01:04 D. Round Table Discussion (Identifying potential future agenda items arising from the prior City Commission Meeting.) 0:01:26 E. Policy Discussion 0:01:27 1. Demolition by Neglect Report (Kramer/Historic Preservation Advisory Board) 0:01:28 Courtney Kramer Ms. Kramer gave the staff presentation regarding a demolition by neglect Ordinance the Historic Preservation Advisory Board has been drafting. Ms. Kramer asked for policy direction from the commissioners and Mayor. See PowerPoint hand-out for a detailed description of a suggested definition, objectives for the Ordinance, eligibility, and the proposed process. The Board identified the following policy questions for commission consideration and guidance: Is the definition of demolition by neglect appropriate? Does the commission accept the application of this policy to both historic and modern completed properties? Does the commission believe fines are an appropriate method of enforcement of this ordinance? 0:17:49 Mayor Jacobson Mayor Jacobson asked Ms. Kramer how many cities around the country have these kinds of ordinances. Policy Minutes of the Bozeman City Commission, February S, 2009 0:17:54 Ms. Kramer These types of Ordinances are usually seen in large cities. Butte has the frame-work but not enforcement in place. 0:19:00 Chris Saunders, Asst. Planning Director This has been receiving more awareness lately because of the current issues related to foreclosed homes. 0:19:46 Cr. Bryson Cr. Bryson asked how we levy fines to people who may not otherwise be able to keep up their house. 0:19:SSMs. Kramer The board grappled with that issue extensively. They came to the conclusion that if you can't afford to maintain your property, you should sell it. 0:20:25 Cr. Bryson Cr. Bryson brought up the concept of property rights. 0:20:49 Cr. Bryson Cr. Bryson asked if this Ordinance would be applicable to public buildings. 0:20:54 Ms. Kramer Ms. Kramer responded that city property would not be exempt from the Ordinance. 0:21:11 Cr. Bryson Cr. Bryson asked what resources would be used if the city did need to work on a property that the owner did not take care of. 0:21:34 Ms. Kramer Ms. Kramer did not have details regarding funding sources. 0:22:17 Mr. Saunders Over time the city would build up some resources to provide support through the brick and mortar grants that would be offered through the BHPAB. 0:22:55 Cr. Bryson Cr. Bryson asked about the requirements for a certificate of appropriateness for homes over 50 years old. 0:23:20 Ms. Kramer Ms. Kramer explained that houses outside of the conservation over-lay will not have to have to get a certificate of appropriateness. ~. 2 Policy Minutes of the Bozeman City Convnission. February 5, 2009 0:24:20 Cr. Bryson Cr. Bryson clarified that every building falling within the demolition by neglect ordinance that is over 50 years old would need to apply for a certificate of appropriateness. Ms. Kramer confirmed that was correct. 0:24:50 Ms. Kramer Ms. Kramer confirmed that the proposed Ordinance would apply for the entire city. 0:25:38 Mr. Saunders Mr. Saunders clarified that if a building did not have an occupancy permit it would not eligible to fall within this ordinance. 0:27:07 Cr. Becker Cr. Becker asked how to reconcile this gross deviation from existing code violation procedures and whether how this Ordinance would be implemented is legal. 0:27:52 Tim Cooper, Staff Attorney After reviewing similar ordinances across the nation, Mr. Cooper said that there are generally two kinds of these ordinances, historical preservation and land-mark designation. There needs to be a substantial relationship with health, safety and morals and protection for public welfare. They usually have an anti-neglect or minimum maintenance provision with affirmative action on the part of property owners. Some are maintained by building codes. Some have tests that are applied. One classic test is a noxious use test that tests whether a building is a nuisance created by neglect. Some have minimum maintenance provisions. They must have consideration of economic hardship and have a number of exceptions or relief valves. The ordinance cannot be to oppressive and must consider economic and technical feasibility. Problems arise if the ordinance is too vague or has too much discretion. It should be crafted to harmonize with other codes such as a maintenance code or abatement code, use appropriate tool for the appropriate situation. The ordinance also needs at least a hearing requirement before levying fines or stepping onto property. 0:35:19 Cr. Becker Cr. Becker said that maybe it needs to be a minimum maintenance provision to existing building codes versus astand-alone policy. The definition sounds very subjective. Cr. Becker felt the definition of demolition by neglect should say before the bullet points, the structural and historical deterioration of 0:40:51 Ms. Kramer Responding to Cr. Rupp's inquiries, Ms. Kramer explained that she felt the current code enforcement officer would use this ordinance but estimates of employment time had not been determined. 0:42:37Cr. Rupp Cr. Rupp voiced concerns that we do not create additional rules that we cannot enforce. 3 Policy Minutes of the Bozeman City Commission, February 5, 2009 0:42:50 Mr. Saunders The recommendation is to use civil penalties not criminal. A civil proceeding can minimize resource commitment regarding enforcement. The expectation is that this ordinance would not be used frequently. 0:45:28 Public Comment Mayor Jacobson opened public comment. 0:45:41Paula Frojae, Building Code Enforcement Ms. Frojae would like everyone to review the international property maintenance code book written by the ICC. It would give the code enforcement officers some teeth. Since we have no property maintenance code that we have adopted, Ms. Frojae sees roofs that are leaking, mold problems and all kinds of bad conditions. She can't do anything about them unless they concern life safety such as lack of fire alarms. Threats of fines within time limits seem to work. She hasn't needed to go to attorneys in the past. 0:49:22 Richard Brown, Public Comment Mr. Brown of 507 West Babcock is a member of the Bozeman Area Historic Preservation Board. Mr. Brown feels that if the city had an Ordinance that had enforcement routes we could spend less time repeatedly going back to a property to get something done. The board doesn't want this to be a hardship to take people's homes. The board approached this ordinance draft with the thought that it would be used occasionally on significant properties. 0:51:52 Cr. Krauss Cr. Krauss thanked the board and Courtney Kramer for all their work on this draft. Cr. Krauss said that we may need a different set of rules for historic districts and then a different set for outside of those. The first objective is to preserve neighborhoods. We are really trying to stop demolition by neglect. Neighbors do mis-behave and try to use the city to hurt neighbors. We don't want to provide incentives for that kind of behavior or for getting money from this as revenue. Cr. Krauss would be in favor of trying to use the international building maintenance book mentioned by Ms. Frojae and incorporating it into our code. These kinds of fines might be able to be forwarded to the treasurer for payment. Cr. Krauss said we are really dealing with two issues here; preservation of existing buildings with historical significance within a historic district and then the general health and welfare of the city. 1:02:34 Mayor Jacobson Mayor Jacobson relayed that she is struggling with this issue because of the hardship factors and the idea that this sounds like the strong arm of the government. 1:03:36 Cr. Bryson Cr. Bryson brought up that there has to be a hearing process and there needs to be a hardship exemption. Cr. Bryson liked Cr. Krauss's idea that we stick to historic districts with maintenance standards elsewhere. 4 Policy Minutes of the Bozeman Ciry Cornrnission, February 5. 1009 1:08:12 Cr. Rupp Cr. Rupp brought up that most of the examples used today were more about health and housing quality standard issues and not really about historic preservation by neglect. He is concerned that there is no demonstratable incident that causes this intentional neglect. 1:11:29 Cr. Rupp Cr. Rupp feels we are over-reaching and he still feels concerned about the enforcement aspect and what it would mean for city staff. 1:14:09 Chuck Winn Mr. Winn clarified that the city does already have the authority through building and fire codes to handle life and safety code issues. 1:16:13 F. FYI/Discussion 1:16:18 Chris Kukulski Mr. Kukulski informed everyone that on January 29th the city held internal ethics training by IMCA. The staff s responded that it was good information but not a great way to get the information. The charter requires we are performing some internal ethics training and working with MSU for ethics training. 1:18:16 Aimee Kissel Ms. Kissel responded to the Mayor's question regarding the status of the ethics board by stating that the ethics board is ready to go but is waiting to meet until the ethic's ordinance is revised. The City Commission made some revisions to the ethic's ordinance in October and those changes need to be drafted. One of those changes was that the ethics board has one year from the time of their first meeting to draft ahand-book, so they shouldn't meet until the revised Ordinance is finished. Bob Planalp will come before the commission on February 23rd with that revised Ordinance. 1:18:49 Mr. Kukulski Mr. Kukulski spoke regarding discussing in the future whether we want to look into designing road or utility projects to prepare them to be ready to bid in light of the stimulus package and that Senator Baucus will be the author of the next transportation bill. 1:20:15 Cr. Rupp Cr. Rupp asked for clarification regarding whether this is starting the process to be eligible for funds through the Montana Dept. of Transportation. 1:20:35 Mr. Kukulski Mr. Kukulski confirmed Cr. Rupp's statement. 1:22:15 Mr. Kukulski Mr. Kukulski explained that he wanted to plant the seed for future discussion about whether to do design work on projects sooner rather than later or other steps that would put us in a better position. 5 Policy Minutes of the Bozeman City Commission, February S, 2009 1:23:18 Debbie Arkell, Public Service Director Ms. Arkell clarified that Rouse Avenue is a state project. Appropriations earmark that came in from South 19th was unsolicited. The city was able to secure those funds because we had a project that was designed and ready to go when funds became available. 1:24:08 Ms. Arkell A community ready to use'grab-bag' money is looked at more favorably to receive those types of funds. 1:24:37 Cr. Krauss Cr. Krauss stated that we need to be careful with new designs to make sure they comply with the Transportation Plan. He said that he feels we should spend money on College and the types of projects out there that would qualify for the types of money that Ms. Arkell was discussing. 1:24:55 Cr. Becker Cr. Becker relayed that he went to a meeting yesterday with a woman with Transportation for America on what was going on with the transportation bill. She said there would be a real multi- modal emphasis on getting designs prepared. 1:25:31 Cr. Krauss Cr. Krauss said that the Department of Transportation yesterday at the Economic Outlook Seminar that congestion will be an emphasis, but explained that we don't have congestion in Montana. 1:26:48 Cr. Becker Cr. Becker asked for a copy of international maintenance code book from ICC that was mentioned earlier in the meeting. 1:27:26 Mr. Kukulski Mr. Kukulski spoke regarding a County CIP meeting this next Wednesday to look over Sandholm's proposal of the overall law and justice center. That will be presented to the City Commission next Monday night. 1:28:16 G. Adjournment Kaaren Jacobs ,Mayor ATTEST: Stac U1 ,City Clerk 6 Policy Mim.r[es of the Bozenaart City Commission. February S, 2009 PREPARED BY: Aimee Ki el, Deputy City Clerk Approved on