As of last Thursday, the Town of Davis received permission from the Highlander building property owners to enter and inspect the building.
“We do have permission to get our team together and enter in the building,” Mayor Joe Drenning said. “Their attorney called, and the town is waiting for a letter from their attorney.”
The Town Council adopted Local Ordinance #1 of 2018 on March 14. The newly passed ordinance is listed in Chapter 11 Article 2A as “Unsafe Structures.”
The ordinance’s goal is to provide an avenue for “the vacating, closing, removal or demolition of dwellings, buildings, and structures unsafe, unsanitary, dangerous, or detrimental to the public safety or welfare,” the ordinance states.
“The Town of Davis intends to create a process to correct these dangerous conditions that provides fair notice to property owners while ensuring that the dangerous conditions are corrected in an appropriate and timely manner,” the ordinance states.
The first step in the process is to obtain permission from the property owner to enter.
The Highlander building is at the top of the town’s priority at this point. “We’re trying to get something done, come in and redo it, or tear it down. Because it’s just a bad piece of property,” Council Member Pat Pregley said.
If permission to enter is refused by a property owner, the ordinance gives the town the right to obtain a search warrant. The decision to pursue a warrant would be decided by the Davis Town Council.
After a legal means of entering a building is secured, a fire marshal or state inspector will evaluate the building.
“We’re planning on trying to get in with a fire marshal and state inspector,” Pregley said. “We want to see what is in the ordinance to force people to do something with these buildings. It depends on what we find. We don’t know what we’ll find in there,” Pregley said.
Buildings are deemed unsafe, unsanitary, dangerous, or detrimental to public safety in a number of ways. Doors and exits that do not conform to fire code stipulations, deteriorated floors that prevent safe passage, abandonment, vandalism, and damage from natural causes including fire, earthquake, wind, or flooding, are all listed as reasons a building may be deemed unsafe.
Following the inspection, a decision will be made on how to proceed with the building. “We’ll get back with the lawyer and landowner to figure out what our decision will be and the results. We will have to figure out according to our ordinance what we can do,” Pregley said.
The ordinance states after determination by the enforcement agency, the town may take corrective action by causing it to be removed or demolished by a third party agent, without either the agreement of the owner or a court order according to the following conditions: the enforcement agency makes a reasonable effort to seek agreement from the owner, the building meets the unsafe requirements, and the town meets procedural requirements.
“This is the first time the town has done this,” Pregley said. “They’ve never had an ordinance like this that we can really address this legally by.”
In addition to the unseemly aesthetics of these neglected buildings, another concern for the town is illegal use and trespassing. “People are entering these buildings. They’re building fires,” Pregley said. The ordinance states these buildings may be “an attractive nuisance to children, or harboring vagrants or criminal activity.”
After the inspection of the Highlander building, “We’ll look it over and get with their attorney to see what we can make happen,” Mayor Drenning said.
“We have to get everybody together, and it’ll be as quick as we can get with all the people involved,” he said.
