An ad hock county committee met Wednesday morning to discuss issues with unsafe buildings.
Commissioner Deb Griewank, Councilwoman Judy Stone, Building Inspector Chuck DeWitt, Plan Director Ralph Booker, Health Board member Michele Livinghouse and Wes Burden from the Health Department discussed issues with homes that are uninhabitable, unsightly or unsafe.
Currently the county operates under a 1985 Unsafe Building Ordinance which has the County Health Officer and Board of Health as the hearing officers with assistance from the County Building Inspector.
Wes Burden from the Health Department said, “Part of the problem is I’m not really a building construction expert.”
Booker said, “The underlying problem from my stand point is they can consider a house stable, they can consider it’s not a health hazard but it’s still a visual and economic hazard for that particular area.”
The group discussed homes at various locations around the county. Another issue is trailers. In Hibbard there is a trailer that is boarded up with no one living is in but nobody takes care of it. At Lake of the Woods there are several trailers one that isn’t even secure and there is one on Myers Lake.
Judy Stone suggested creating an ordinance for those that are occupied and another one for those that are empty. She also suggested putting some teeth into the ordinance so owners can’t keep dragging out the process.
Stone asked if the county has an ordinance on how old trailers can be to be purchased and moved in. DeWitt said the current ordinance says 1981 because that’s when new HUD regulations can in for construction. DeWitt said come counties restrict placing trailers that are 10 years while others require an inspection before it comes into the county.
Booker also told the committee, “Since I’ve been here I’ve never issued a permit for trailer in a mobile home park. They have brought them in and taken them out with a permitting process.”
In January a letter was sent out to the various trailer parks notifying them of a new permitting process to bring in any trailers. DeWitt said, “The minimum we have to do is to check and make sure that gas is hooked up correctly, that the sewer is hooked up and the electrical is hooked up and safe and that it is also tied down and anchored to the ground.”
DeWitt presented committee member with a copy of the state’s unsafe building ordinance which covers many of the issues the committee discussed.
The committee will meet again next week and continue with the process after reviewing the state’s ordinance. H
