Higher fees proposed for owners of boarded-up homes

Spokane city officials are seeking new ways to get boarded-up houses either repaired and reoccupied, or demolished.

The City Council is being asked to increase fees charged to owners of boarded-up homes and to tighten regulations regarding what homes can be kept in a boarded condition.

A proposed ordinance drafted with the help of neighborhood council leaders is scheduled to go before the council for final adoption on July 18. It would define buildings as abandoned, boarded up, substandard or unfit.

Neighborhood leaders have said the number of boarded-up homes in older neighborhoods has become an increasing problem.

The ordinance would raise the fee for maintaining a boarded up house from $200 a year to $600 a year. The money pays for the city’s cost of monitoring the building.

The measure recognizes that boarded-up structures are a blight on the community and deter investment by adjacent property owners. Also, the buildings often attract criminal activity, and some buildings become hazardous to live in as a result of methamphetamine manufacturing, city officials said.

Councilman Al French said he is considering an amendment to the proposal that would put a three-year limit on how long a building can be kept boarded up. He said members of the Community Assembly of Neighborhood Councils are expected to discuss the measure during a meeting Friday at 4 p.m. in the briefing center in the lower level of City Hall.

Substandard buildings can be defined by any number of conditions under the ordinance. They include exterior decay, water damage, structural defects, human waste, garbage, defective plumbing, inadequate siding, no utility service for one year, hazardous electrical conditions, fire damage, methamphetamine production, other defects and being boarded up for more than one year.