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Work group debates waiver fees, fines and enforcement approach
Summary
Members discussed charging a fee to process waiver requests and setting fines for noncompliance (staff cited fines up to $5,000), and emphasized that fines should not replace corrective action; staff will propose fee and fine language in the draft bill.
Staff told the group it will propose a fee for filing a waiver request and that creating a new fee will require a resolution. "Because we will be creating a new fee, we will have to also do a resolution to allow for that fee," Paris said.
Paris also raised fines for failure to comply with the universal design code and cited the statutory cap: "Now that the fines can go up up to $5,000," she said. The group discussed whether fines should be flat or tiered by violation (for example, a no-step-entry violation vs. a missing handrail) and whether fines would be per unit. Paris said fines should be accompanied by corrective requirements: "We would make you come in, get a permit, build the deck, pay the fine, get it inspected." In short, paying a fine would not relieve a property owner of the requirement to bring a project into compliance.
Members raised the possibility of a fee-in-lieu when physical compliance is impossible; that idea is under discussion and would require specific code language to define eligibility and where funds would be deposited.
