Ridgecrest Municipal Code § 102-128 Vacant or boarded buildings; findings

(a) Vacant buildings are a major cause and source of blight in residential and nonresidential neighborhoods, especially when the owner of the building fails to actively maintain and manage the building to ensure it does not become a liability to the neighborhood. Vacant buildings often attract transients, homeless people, and criminals, including molesters and drug abusers. Use of vacant buildings by transients and criminals who may employ primitive cooking or heating methods, creates a risk of fire for the vacant building and adjacent properties. Vacant properties are often used as dumping grounds for junk and debris and are often overgrown with weeds and grass. Vacant buildings, which are boarded up to prevent entry by transients and other long-term vacancies, discourage economic development and retard appreciation of property values.

(b) One vacant property, which is not actively being managed and maintained, can be the core and cause of spreading blight.

(c) Because of the potential economic and public health, welfare and safety problems caused by vacant buildings, the city needs to monitor vacant buildings every 90 days, to ensure that they do not become attractive nuisances, are not used by trespassers, are properly maintained both inside and out, and do not become a blighting influence in the neighborhood. Among those city departments involved in such monitoring are the community development department, the public works department, and the police department. There is a substantial cost to the city for monitoring vacant buildings whether or not those buildings are boarded up.

(d) This cost should not be borne by the general taxpayers of the community but rather these costs should be borne by those who choose to leave their buildings vacant.

(Code 1980, § 9-8.1; Ord. No. 01-12, § 2)

The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this article, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:

Boarded building means a building in which at least 30 percent of the window and door surface has been covered over with plywood or other material for the purpose of preventing entry into the building by persons or animals.

Vacant building means a residential or commercial building designed for human use or occupancy standing vacant for more than 90 consecutive days.

(Code 1980, § 9-8.2; Ord. No. 01-12, § 3)

(a) Every owner of a vacant or boarded building shall pay a monitoring fee in an amount to be set by resolution of the city council. The fee shall not exceed the estimated reasonable cost of monitoring the vacant or boarded building. The building will be subject to a repeat monitoring every 90 days until the building is occupied. The owner will be responsible for the cost of each additional monitoring as set forth above.

(b) The monitoring fee shall be waived upon a showing by the owner, to the satisfaction of the community development director, that:

(1) The owner has applied for and is diligently pursuing a building permit or other permits necessary to occupy the building.

(2) The owner is proceeding diligently to repair the premises for occupancy.

(3) The building is actively being offered for sale, lease or rent by the owner as evidenced by advertisements in the newspaper and other publications and/or listing with a licensed realty brokerage and is being actively maintained towards that end as evidenced by the following; maintenance of exterior paint conditions, prevention of weed and trash accumulation, and maintenance of doors and windows.

(Code 1980, § 9-8.3; Ord. No. 01-12, § 4)

(a) The monitoring fee shall be billed to the owners of the property and mailed to the owner's address as set forth on the last equalized assessment roll of the county assessor.

(b) Any owner billed may apply for a waiver by submitting a written statement of the grounds for the waiver, and the owner's daytime telephone number, to the community development director within 30 days after the billing is mailed to the owner. The community development director shall review the written statement and may contact the owner to discuss the application for waiver. The community development director shall prepare a written decision, which shall be mailed to the owner. Any owner aggrieved by the decision of the community development director relating to an application for a waiver may within 30 days of the community development director's decision appeal the decision by submitting a written notice of appeal and request for city council hearing to the office of the city clerk.

(c) If the fee is not paid within 60 days after billing or within 60 days after the decision of the community development director or city council becomes final, the city council may order the fee be specially assessed against the property. The city council shall confirm the assessment and thereafter the assessment may be collected at the same time and in the same manner as ordinary real property taxes are collected and shall be subject to the same penalties and the same procedures and sale in case of collection, and enforcement of real property taxes are applicable to the special assessment. The city council may also cause a notice of lien to be recorded. The notice shall, at a minimum, identify the record owner or possessor of the property, set forth in the last known address of the record owner or possessor, a description of the real property subject to the lien, and the amount of the lien.

(Code 1980, § 9-8.4; Ord. No. 01-12, § 5)