§ 9128.11. Residential Condominiums - Intent and Purpose.

Residential condominium projects may require that numbers of householders, with vested ownership in their respective dwelling units, live in close proximity to one another. Condominium projects also require that such owners be bound together in an Association which is responsible for the maintenance, management and possible reconstruction of improvements within the common area of the project. This mix of individual and common ownership is different from conventional and familiar patterns of housing in the City. The unique status of residential condominium projects tends to magnify the effects associated with higher urban densities to the point where they may lead to conditions of mismanagement, neglect and blight that impact upon the public health, safety, welfare and economic prosperity of the larger community. To ensure that such problems are avoided in both the short and long term, it is the express intent of the City to treat residential condominiums differently from apartments and other like structures. Pursuant to such intent and in order to provide guidance in the consideration of proposed condominium projects, the purposes of CMC § 9128.11 through § 9128.17 are as follows:

To ensure that the significance of the fragmented pattern of condominium ownership with respect to long-range planning, unforeseen change and maintenance of the City's housing stock is not superficially discounted in favor of short-term and expedient financial considerations.

To establish reasonable procedures for the dissolution of the condominium and demolition of the structures at the end of their economic, functional or physical life and thus obviate conditions of residential obsolescence and blight and their pernicious effects upon both immediate occupants and the larger community.

To ensure that the potentially deleterious effects resulting from a lack of continuous and centralized management do not impact upon the public health, safety and welfare and, at the same time, ensure that there is democratic and effective management of the project that does not allow, over time, a majority of the unit owners to effectively contravene the initial commitments made to the project at the time of its inception and thus undercut the good faith of any minority of unit owners.

To ensure that the project developer provides adequate private outdoor living space, storage space and parking space to meet the expectations and changing needs of property owners over a long period of time.

To ensure that the project developer is attentive to the performance characteristics of the structure and mitigates such problems as vibration and noise transmission which may not be apparent to the buyer without living in the unit but which, if not adequately attenuated, may nevertheless render the living environment within the project undesirable and the transfer of unit ownership difficult.

To ensure that the project developer uses contemporary and environmentally sensitive concepts of site planning and architectural design in the creation of the project and to ensure that the project, once completed, maintains its integrity over time not only to preserve the long-term financial commitment of the unit owner, but also to optimize the utilitarian and aesthetic qualities that make the project a viable home for him in the future.

To ensure that, when appropriate, governmental entities have the right to enter into specified areas of the project to protect the public health, safety and welfare and preserve the public peace.

(Ord. 84-700 § 3)