Westminster staff to step up enforcement of vacant building registry; fines, exemptions clarified

Assistant City Administrator Reagan Osmond briefed the Westminster City Council on implementation and forthcoming enforcement of the city’s vacant building registry ordinance, which council directed staff to draft and approved in September 2023.

Osmond said staff have categorized vacant structures into three levels: Category 1 (no code violations), Category 2 (some or minimal code violations) and Category 3 (substantial code violations or conditions that could become a public nuisance). He described the residential fee structure as zero dollars for the first registration year, a $50 renewal in the second year for Category 1 residential properties, and escalating fees for higher categories; nonresidential (commercial) structures have an initial fee. Osmond said staff identified a set of vacant buildings during initial outreach but corrected counts during the presentation: "As I mentioned earlier, we had 80 vacant buildings, identified. That should be 30 I'm sorry. 48 remain vacant. 11 of those 38 were under construction or remodel," and later described 37 buildings as remaining vacant without exit activity. Osmond characterized the first year as a learning curve and said staff have systems in place to improve compliance next year.

Osmond reviewed exemptions the ordinance allows: buildings actively marketed for sale for more than a year; structures under renovation for up to one year (after which the exemption ends); buildings in active transfer or probate; and structures for which owners have granted the city permission to demolish. He emphasized that exemptions require documentation and warned that failure to provide documentation leaves the owner subject to the ordinance’s $500-per-day noncompliance fine, although staff said they did not issue heavy fines in the program’s first year.

Council members asked whether Main Street properties were included; Osmond said every vacant building on Main Street qualifies and noted staff have pushed back in cases where an owner described storage use but staff considered the property vacant under ordinance definitions. A council member and staff discussed a missed procedural renewal date: Osmond acknowledged staff missed the Nov. 6 renewal window required under the ordinance and said the remedy is to renew at the Jan. 22 year mark and again on Nov. 6 to realign schedules for 2025.

No ordinance amendment or final council vote occurred at the meeting; staff said they would distribute a list of identified properties to council members and will proceed with stepped-up enforcement and outreach.