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Council discusses moving vacant-building program into stricter property-maintenance code to speed compliance
Summary
Council discussed a proposed change to make vacant-property registration citywide and enforce it under the property-maintenance code with revised penalties, aiming to speed compliance from building owners; building official said enforcement may increase paperwork but should yield faster results.
Council discussed a proposed revision to the city’s vacant building program that would convert the current vacant commercial building program into a citywide vacant property registration and place violations under the property-maintenance code.
Josh Padet, Aberdeen’s building official, explained the change is intended to give code enforcement stronger tools — including the ability to issue daily fines under the related nuisance code — which staff say drives faster compliance than the prior approach that sometimes required years under the unfit-building process. Padet said the fines will apply for lack of required maintenance rather than vacancy per se.
Council members asked whether the change will require additional staff time; Padet said inspectors already have existing cases and that the process will add paperwork for letters and daily-fine tracking but should improve compliance timelines. He said the new approach expands the registration program citywide to include residential and undeveloped lots as well as commercial properties and will be accompanied by a fee resolution if the council adopts the ordinance.
No final vote on the ordinance occurred at the meeting; council treated the matter as a discussion and requested staff follow-up on implementation procedures and any fee schedule associated with the program.
