Agenda - Council - 09/13/2016 - Laserfiche WebLink

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OW t hi lon: To work together ko respotibiy grow oar community, and to provide quality, cost -affective, and efckent government tet does. CC Regular Session 7. 5. Meeting Date: 09/13/2016 By: Tim Gladhill, Community Development Information Title: Consider Direction to Schedule Public Comment Period and Public Hearing to Consider Amendments to the Residential Rental Licensing Program. Purpose/Background: Purpose: The purpose of this case is to consider a process to bring an ordinance forward to amend the City's residential rental licensing program. This initiative originates from the City Council's Strategic Plan. Based on an initial public engagement/workshop authorized by the City Council and subsequent Staff discussion, Staff proposes the following amendments to the program. 1. Single -Family Dwellings (detached and attached/townhome) subject to licensure (registration), but not inspection. Inspections would only occur on a complaint basis. A fee of $25 would be collected. 2. Frequency of multi -family inspection reduced to once every three (3) years a. Common Areas inspected b. Portion of individual units inspected In addition, the City would chart out a path for future amendments, only if necessary. These options are not being recommended at this time. 1. If clusters of rental homes with exterior code violations presented itself, the City would consider adding an exterior inspection requirement. 2. If clusters of interior code violations presented itself through the complaint -based system, the City would consider adding interior inspections. This would be on a tiered/incentive-based approach, as outlined below. As has been discussed in the past as part of this topic, the City does not believe there to be a widespread issue with rental properties in Ramsey; the goal of this program is preventative in nature. However, there are isolated issues and pockets of issues believed to be in existence. The amendments to the program would improve communication with owners/landlords and provide an additional tool in the event the owner is unresponsive to corrective needs while not creating a burdensome process both for owner and City. The proposed amendment would create a program that is still much more relaxed than the City's original program for these single-family homes. Background The City Council previously authorized a public engagement process to gather feedback on potential amendments to the rental licensing program. Letters went out to approximately 800 non -homesteaded homes believed to be rental properties. The City also reached out to area real estate brokers and property management companies. Of that invite list, approximately twenty (20) participated in the public comment period. The intent of that workshop was to better understand the issue at hand, but not propose any amendments at that time. The City did not want to lead with solutions until it better understood the issue. Staff found this to be a valuable exercise, as additional aspects of renting a property were discovered that were not necessarily part of the original research. The abstract nature of the