A vacant properties ordinance requires owners of vacant property to register their property with the City, create a vacant property plan to restore the building and pay fees in an amount sufficient to cover possible expenses associated with a vacant building. BPI Chicago has published a three-part series addressing the vacant property crisis in Illinois and outlines steps that home-rule communities in Illinois have taken to address problem properties (BPI Chicago, 2010).
Components of a Vacant Property Ordinance:
The registration process is triggered once a property owner has received notice that their property is a nuisance, that it has been discovered as vacant during another procedure (such as City inspection) or after it has been vacant for a predetermined amount of time, such as after 60 days of vacancy (see Appendix G for an example of a vacant property registration form.)
The property owner is then required to draft a Vacant Property Plan, outlining how the building will be brought up to code and made habitable in order to return the property to the private market.
A fee schedule can motivate owners of vacant property to make timely repairs. Annual fees can increase for each year of non-compliance. Financial disincentives may also include taking out a bond against a vacant property or requiring owners to maintain a minimum amount of insurance on vacant properties.
In order to be successful, a vacant property ordinance must be undergirded by collaborative and consistent enforcement of City codes, especially those pertaining to public nuisances. The City of Paducah, Kentucky initiated a year-long code enforcement campaign in its Lower Town Neighborhood; code enforcers divided the historic neighborhood into quarters and went door to door and lot-to-lot to cite all code violations without exception (City of Paducah, 2002).
Relevant Laws:
New legislation in Illinois is making it easier for home rule communities to fight problem properties. Public Act 96-0856 (amends Illinois laws 735 ILCS 5/15-1503, 735 ILCS 5/15-1508 and 65 ILCS 5/11-20):
Requires that municipalities receive notice of foreclosure initiation and confirmation of sale (Lis Pendens) so long as they provide a single address to which these notifications can be sent.
Allows municipalities to obtain priority liens when they use public funds to maintain vacant or abandoned properties. Municipalities can perform basic maintenance tasks, such as garbage removal, lawn mowing and fencing – with a greater likeliness of recovering these costs later.
Monmouth has already taken initial steps to protect the cultural significance of its downtown structures by registering the downtown area as the Monmouth Courthouse Commercial Historic District with the National Register of Historic Places. However, National Register listings place no obligations on private property owners unless federal money is being used to renovate a structure (National Register of Historic Places, 2012). Monmouth can further protect these structures by becoming a Certified Local Government (CLG).
The Certified Local Government program is administered by the National Park Service (NPS) and the State Historic Preservation Offices (SHPOs). Becoming a CLG allows a municipality to take advantage of technical assistance from a network of organizations, including the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions, Preserve America, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the National Main Street Center. Additionally, SHPOs reserve annual funding each year that is provided exclusively to CLGs (National Park Service, 2012).
In order to become a CLG, a community must:
Establish a Historic Preservation Commission (HPC)
Enforce local legislation for the protection of historic properties
Maintain a system to survey and inventory historic properties
Allow for public participation in the preservation process
Monmouth does not need to reinvent the wheel to protect the exterior design of its historically significant buildings. The Secretary of the Interior has published an excellent resource, Standards for Rehabilitation, which can be adopted by a qualified Historic Preservation Commission in order to guide the renovation of historically significant structures (National Park Service, 2012). These standards are typically administered by a Historic Preservation Commission (as in a CLG) or by a Design Committee.
Community Examples: Learn how Jacksonville, Illinois ties incentive funds to design standards.