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Community Development director reviews 2024 work: permits, code compliance and neighborhood programs
Summary
Director Mallory Brown presented the Community Development Department’s annual report covering 2024 permit activity, code-compliance enforcement, the Chapter 353 tax-abatement program, vacant-property registration, and upcoming initiatives including a new permitting software and neighborhood planning.
Mallory Brown, director of Community Development, presented the department’s 2024 annual report at the June 2 council meeting, reviewing permitting, code compliance, neighborhood programs and plans for 2025.
Brown said the department issued 611 construction-related permits in 2024 and that permit valuations were in line with recent years. She reported inspector Mike Thompson completed 915 construction-related inspections and performs rental inspections. Brown said the code-compliance division completed 775 inspections, sent 481 notice letters, achieved 265 instances of voluntary compliance and took 34 cases to court.
On neighborhood programs, Brown said the Chapter 353 tax-abatement program had 13 applications in 2024 with seven projects completed and roughly $2 million invested through the program; nine properties were under construction at year-end. The vacant property registration program expanded from 74 properties at the start of 2024 to more than 99, and about 19 previously vacant properties became occupied by year-end, Brown said.
Brown highlighted several neighborhood initiatives: the Aging Well Task Force’s first Silver Prom, curb-appeal contests, a minor-home-repair program in partnership with Northland Neighborhoods Inc., and a volunteer Snow Angels program. She said the department is hiring a city planner and a permit technician and is testing new permitting software with a planned go-live in July or August. Brown described ongoing code compliance emphasis on commercial parking lots and temporary signage in downtown and historic areas and said the Historic Preservation Commission issued 55 certificates of appropriateness in 2024.
Why it matters: the report outlines the city’s neighborhood investments, enforcement activity and capacity-building efforts that affect housing conditions, property maintenance and economic development.
What’s next: staff will continue work on the comprehensive plan, pursue a neighborhood plan for the Isley neighborhood if grant funding materializes, implement the new permitting software and fill open planning and permit-technical positions.
