108-10 New Sect. 1306.75 Emergency Authority for Order to Vacate

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PLEASE SUBSTITUTE FOR ORDINANCE 108-10 PLACED ON 1ST READING & REFERRED TO THE HOUSING COMMITTEE 12/6/10, 2ND READING 12/20/10. Ordinance No. los-lo By: Bullock, Butler, Juris, Madigan, Nowlin, Powes, Smith. AN ORDINANCE to enact a new Section 1306.75, Emergency Authority for Order to Vacate; Imminent Danger, of the Codified Ordinances of the City of Lakewood, to grant the Building Commissioner authority to require a building found to create a risk to the life or safety of its. occupants be vacated and not.. occupied until necessary repairs have been made or the provision of basic. utility services have been restored in instances'where the ..lack of maintenance or utilities places the tenants df the building in imminent danger. WHEREAS; orr at least one documented occasion, a fire was caused in an occupied structure where the occupants were using candles for light due to the lack of electric utility services to the property; and WHEREAS; there have been multiple. other occasions where tenants are. occupying structures where there is no running water creating unsanitary living conditions; and WHEREAS, the City has assisted with temporary relocation of tenants where a properly owner has failed to provide proper heat during winter months due to the lack of a functioning boiler in the building; and WHEREAS, emergency authority of the Building Commissioner existed under the prior version of Section 1306.521, Repair or Demolition of Unsafe Structures which permitted the order that the building be vacated and the structure secured; and WHEREAS, the current building code provides for the issuance of a correction notice in some of these circumstances, however, there is no current authority to order vacation of the structure where the City is not going to pursue condemnation or demolition of the structure and the condition of the structure creates a risk to the life or safety of the tenants of the building. Now therefore, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY OF LAKEWOOD, STATE OF OHIO: Section 1. That Section 1306.75, Emergency Authority for Order to Vacate; Imminent Danger, to read as follows: 1306.75 EMERGENCY AUTHORITY; IMMINENT DANGER. (a) Imminent Danoer. If a building or structure creates a substantial risk to the life or safety of its occupants due to the imminent or potential failure or collapse of said structure; or if the structure endangers individuals in the proximity of said structure due to toxic or explosive fumes, vapors or gases, or explosives, or