Commission adopts ordinance adding uniform dangerous‑building abatement codes
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Summary
The Washington County Commission approved Ordinance No. 2025-1281 to add two uniform codes used to abate dangerous buildings, citing public‑health and property risks and built‑in due‑process safeguards.
Washington County commissioners on Thursday approved Ordinance No. 2025-1281 to amend Title 9 of the county code to add uniform provisions for abating dangerous buildings.
The ordinance adds the 1997 Uniform Code for the Abatement of Dangerous Buildings and the 2021 International Property Maintenance Code to the county’s building code, giving staff clear processes to address structures “so defective it is dangerous to life, health, or property,” county staff said. "These building … uniform codes will allow us to do a couple of things in the future if we need to," a county staff member explained during the presentation.
County staff said the change is largely procedural and intended to provide a legal framework if a building or its systems — for example a collapsing structure or a failing septic system — presents a risk to occupants or the public. "The codes … give us processes that protect the health and safety of the occupants as well as the public, but also provide due process provisions that protect the building owner and the occupants," the staff member said.
The staff member told commissioners the county is not adopting the appeal provisions from the uniform codes because the county already has appeal procedures in Title 10 and wants consistent appeals across titles. The staff presentation also said the codes would be used only when voluntary efforts by leaders, volunteers or church groups to resolve a hazardous condition have failed.
A commissioner moved approval of the ordinance, another commissioner seconded, and the measure passed on a voice vote.
The ordinance text included minor cleanups to Title 9, Chapter 1 and the formal addition of the two uniform codes. County staff said the measure was adopted so that the county will have a clear, legally vetted process if it must act to abate a building that poses immediate danger to life, health or property.
The commission’s action was taken by voice vote; no roll‑call tally was recorded in the meeting transcript.