By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent
BUCHANAN, MI – The city of Buchanan has a new vacant building ordinance after action earlier this month by the Buchanan City Commission. Commissioners were scheduled to take more action on the vacant building issue with the establishment of a fee schedule at their meeting this week.
The new fee schedule related to the vacant building ordinance was on the agenda for the commission’s meeting Tuesday night. The commission meeting was delayed a day due to the Memorial Day holiday.
City Commissioners had held a second public hearing on the proposed vacant buildings ordinance at their May 11 meeting and enacted it later in the meeting. The ordinance provides for the regulation and rehabilitation of vacant and underutilized buildings to promote their return to active use.
City Manager Tony McGhee said previously that the ordinance will address the buildings that are vacant or used for storage in the downtown and around the city. He said those buildings have had a negative impact on the local economy. Property owners will be encouraged to activate their buildings or pay a fee with hardship cases considered.
In a memo to the commission, he said that vacant and underutilized buildings “can have a significant impact on the health and vitality of a community. They can become magnets for vandalism, nuisance activity, unauthorized entry, property maintenance issues, and public safety concerns.”
“They can also reduce surrounding property values, create a negative visual impact, and detract from the economic and social vibrancy of neighborhoods and the downtown,” he added. “At the same time, buildings that sit idle represent lost opportunities for housing, small business activity, job creation, investment, and community gathering spaces that could otherwise contribute to Buchanan.”
McGhee noted that the purpose of the fee schedule is further the goals of the ordinance and strike a fair balance between the needs of the community and the realities property owners may face.
“The ordinance includes activation plans with clear milestones, limited exemptions, hardship relief, and an appeals process so that owners who are making a good faith effort to return a building to productive use have a clear path forward,” he wrote.
He noted that the proposed fee schedule is designed to support the goals of the ordinance by creating an escalating structure.
“The purpose of the escalating fees is not simply to generate revenue,” he wrote. “Rather, the purpose is to encourage action. A property that remains vacant or underutilized for one year creates a concern, but a property that remains vacant or underutilized for several years creates a much larger community impact. The fee schedule should reflect that difference.”
He acknowledged that commercial/industrial properties generally have a larger impact on the public, while residential properties should still be subject to meaningful accountability after activation plans and hardship options are exhausted.
“The residential schedule is intended to provide accountability for long-term vacant residential properties while also allowing flexibility for legitimate hardship situations,” he wrote.
As proposed to the commission, the schedule would have separate fees for commercial/industrial and residential properties. It would also increase fees every year until year five, after which the fee will remain the same into the future.
The first year fee for commercial/industrial properties was proposed to be $1,500, rising to $2,500 in the second year, $3,000 in the third year, $4,000 in the fourth year, and $5,000 in the fifth and subsequent years.
The first year fee for residential properties was proposed to be $500, rising to $1,500 in the second year, $2,000 in the third year, $2,500 in the fourth year and $3,000 in the fifth and subsequent years.
“Ultimately, the purpose of the ordinance and fee schedule is to move properties toward productive use. Buchanan benefits when buildings are occupied, maintained, invested in, and contributing to the life of the community,” he noted.
“Active buildings support neighborhoods, strengthen the downtown, improve public perception, create opportunities for housing and business activity, and protect the investments made by surrounding property owners and taxpayers.”
Two other new proposed ordinances were introduced with first public hearings set for the commission’s June 8 meeting. The first new ordinance would repeal the city’s old sign ordinance, while the second one would put the city’s brush pickup policy into an ordinance.
McGhee said the sign ordinance wasn’t updated last year when the commission approved the new unified development code zoning ordinance.