What do you say about this ordinance that will require property owners to be more accountable for their vacant property? Bravo? Or... it's about time? Either way, this is good news. Let's hope it's enforced.
Excerpt from the
Detroit Free Press:
Detroit is battling its ongoing problem of vacant homes and blight with a new law that holds property owners more accountable.
The Detroit City Council approved the Vacant Property Registration ordinance this month, joining hundreds of municipalities nationwide, including Grand Rapids, West Bloomfield and Dearborn, with similar policies.
The ordinance -- sponsored by Councilman Kwame Kenyatta with support from Karla Henderson, the city's Building Safety Engineering director -- requires the owners of vacant properties, from individual owners to lenders, to register them with the city for a $25 per structure annual fee.
The registry is expected to allow city officials to better track property owners, to consistently levy fines and to hold owners accountable for their properties before and after they become blighted. The city already required rental homes to be registered.
"We do know that there are some good property owners," Henderson said. "We'll leave them alone and start going after the ones that aren't."
Read the entire article
here.
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