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Minutes Wkshp - 12/10/2007 COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES DECEMBER 10, 2007 TAPE READING 0001 DATE. COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL, CITY OF WOODBURN, COUNTY OF MARION, STATE OF OREGON, DECEMBER 10, 2007. CONVENED. The workshop convened at 6:05 p.m. with Mayor Figley presiding. 0010 ROLL CALL. Mayor Councilor Councilor Councilor Councilor Councilor Councilor Figley Bjelland Cox Lonergan McCallum Nichols Sifuentez Present Present Present (6:07 pm) Present Present Present Present Staff Present: City Administrator Brown, City Attorney Shields, Police Chief Russell, Acting Public Works Manager Rohman, Community Development Director Allen, Building Official Krieg, City Recorder Tennant 0010 RENTAL HOUSING DRAFT ORDINANCE. Mayor Figley stated that this workshop was called to discuss a draft housing ordinance which Councilor Cox has been interested in adopting over the years. Other cities have been adopting this type of ordinance thereby making more information available to staff for the purpose of drafting a housing code which more closely meets the needs of our community. Administrator Brown provided a detailed staff report in the agenda packet providing background information on the draft document along with a list of issues that staff feels Council direction is needed before staff proceeds on any additional work on this draft document. In the goal setting session of 2003, the housing issue was brought up as an item of concern but it was not added to the adopted list of goals. In 2007, it was added to the list of Council goals and staff has provided this draft ordinance for discussion which provides provisions for property maintenance regulations beyond the City's Dangerous Building Ordinance and to protect tenants from sub-standard housing conditions due to lack of maintenance and/or structural deficiencies. Staff has reviewed a number of source documents such as the City's nuisance and dangerous building ordinances and the Oregon Tenant Landlord Act to develop a draft ordinance that would meet the City's needs. The Housing Code document would fill-in the gaps where it is perceived that gaps exist rather than trying to overlap or supercede the existing laws. As a rental housing ordinance, a policy consideration would be whether or not the protections should be extended to people living in property beyond renters. Another issue relates to whether or not the beneficiaries of the program should or should not pay for the financial cost to administer this program. In this document, staff is recommending that minimum standards be Page I - Council Meeting Workshop Minutes, December 10, 2007 COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES DECEMBER 10, 2007 TAPE READING established to ensure basic livability standards. In regards to enforcement, it is proposed that Code Enforcement staff would be supported by the building division staff and abatement procedures are the same as what is currently in place in other City nuisance ordinances. Staff is proposing that this ordinance would be administered on a complaint driven basis rather than pro-actively seeking substandard structures since those who need assistance will contact the City to receive help. In regards to budgeting, future budgets for administering this program would be based on the previous year's activity. He stated that he would like to obtain a consensus from the Council at the end of this workshop as to whether or not staff should proceed with the draft ordinance and, if so, provide any additional policy direction for staff to include in a final document. Additionally, he requested that prior to any adoption, staff be allowed time to talk to property management / maintenance people to obtain any feedback from them on the draft document. 0261 Mayor Figley questioned staff as to what this ordinance would enforce that cannot already be done with existing laws and if this type of ordinance would give a law enforcement or code enforcement officer any additional access to a home. Police Chief Russell stated that the dangerous building ordinance focuses on the danger of the structure potentially collapsing whereas the housing ordinance would focus on the health and safety of the people living in the house. He did not feel that the ordinance would give his department any additional authority over what they currently have since, if it involves criminal issues, the department is strictly confined by the constitution as to what they can and cannot do. Councilor McCallum stated that one of his concerns is that the City has ordinances in place to regulate certain issues but the public, including the renters, seem to be unaware of those regulations that can be of assistance to them. If enforcement of this ordinance is to be complaint driven, public education is necessary on an on-going basis to remind the public of what those laws are and how to report violations. He felt that adoption of a housing code may be the path taken to bring applicable ordinances relating to housing issues together so the public understands what can be done to correct these violations. 0422 Councilor Cox expressed his opinion that this type of ordinance is needed within the City and housing situations reported in Gresham and Salem are no different in Woodburn. Current ordinances do not provide coverage for general livability of residents such as broken windows, leaking ceilings, plumbing, water and generally poor maintenance conditions which this draft ordinance would cover. He reiterated that current ordinances focus on the following 3 areas: (1) fire hazards, (2) immediate danger of collapse, and (3) serious threat to health which covers a fairly limited number of situations. The City's building codes only apply to current construction and remodeling with some conditions that now exist under current codes that would be considered as violations are grandfathered in so that the City has no authority to require an update to the current code. The Oregon Landlord Tenant Act is not a remedy since the issue is only between landlord and tenant. He stated that he had sent an e-mail to staff late November 2007 on this issue but had not received a response from staff, therefore, he read an excerpt from his e-mail Page 2 - Council Meeting Workshop Minutes, December 10, 2007 COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES DECEMBER 10, 2007 TAPE READING to the Council to share his concerns on the applicability of the landlord tenant act and the need to adopt a housing code that will cover livability issues that are not covered under existing city ordinances. He did not feel that the housing code would be used regularly as long as it is complaint driven but public education is a major component in getting the information out to the public to let them know of their rights under this ordinance. 0584 Councilor Lonergan expressed his opinion that the City needs a housing code but questioned how the City can protect tenants if they are the ones complaining about the living conditions. Councilor Cox stated that there is a provision in the Oregon Landlord Tenant Act that relates to retaliation and he has suggested that a condition similar to the one in the Act would be appropriate in the City's housing code. Brief discussion was held regarding the complaint driven concept and it was noted that complaints could be received from individuals such as tenants, neighbors, social service workers or city staff members. 0700 Councilor Bjelland expressed his support for a housing code and adoption of a housing code would be a good first step to test the ordinance by allowing the City to address some problems that have existed with rental properties. He also felt that adoption of a housing code is a justifiable approach to protect residents living in rental properties. Councilor Sifuentez felt that it will be necessary to involve the City's Community Relations Officer since many of the people actually affected by the housing conditions addressed in the draft ordinance are Hispanics and they would not know how to even start the complaint process. Councilor Bjelland stated that the educational aspect in both English and Spanish is a very important part of this process to make sure that renters understand what they can do to report unhealthy living conditions. Councilor Nichols also stated that he was in favor of a housing ordinance but questioned how far and how long the ordinance will be kept in place since there are numerous ordinances regulating other types of issues that have been in place for many years but because of their being complaint driven, no action is taken by the City unless a complaint has been filed. 0812 Councilor Cox stated that time will tell how this ordinance will work but it could conceivably be one of those empty ordinances on the books but he hoped that would not be the case. He feels that this ordinance has a real purpose to serve within our community. He also did not feel that the complaint driven provision needs to be that narrowly interpreted nor does he feel that the City should hire an individual to go out and perform regular inspections at this time since the public is most likely not ready for this type of enforcement nor does the City have the money to pay for this service. 0861 Administrator Brown stated that staff does look into, and follow-up, on every complaint received and caseload statistics are provided to the Council on code enforcement activity each month. Staff would be taking complaints from everyone as currently being done and the housing code ordinance is written as to allow for complaints to be filed by Page 3 - Council Meeting Workshop Minutes, December 10,2007 COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES DECEMBER 10, 2007 TAPE READING anyone. Councilor Cox stated that he did not feel that the time is right to start charging a fee to all landlords to cover enforcement activities. He referenced the dangerous building ordinance as an example in not charging a fee until such time as a violation exists and an abatement process is involved. He felt that the public is not ready for a fee to cover enforcement expenses and that it would be very difficult to find out who should be paying the fees since the City has limited data base on owners of rental property. Additionally, he felt that those good landlords taking care of their property would be paying the individuals paying the fee whereas those who are not complying with ordinance requirements would ignore the fee. The Council could re-consider a fee program once the ordinance has been adopted and the City has some experience behind the costs involved to enforce the ordinance provisions. Administrator Brown stated that the concerns raised by Councilor Cox have been discussed by staff and there will be on-going program costs with a larger expense involved in those cases where the City or landlord takes legal action. He had included the fees as a mechanism for recovering those costs and felt that including it at this time would be better than amending it at a future date for the purpose of assessing fees. A provision allowing for costs relating to abatement of property to be placed as a lien on the property would be a fair protection to the City to recover those costs that are not routine in nature. 1146 Councilor Cox stated that he had no objection to including a provision that would reserve the right of the Council as part of the annual review to adopt fees by resolution. It was the consensus of the Council to include language in the ordinance as suggested by Councilor Cox. Councilor Bjelland questioned within the draft ordinance who would be able to initiate a complaint. Administrator Brown stated that anyone could initiate a complaint and there is no process defined in the draft as to what a complaint is since the City will send a Code Enforcement Officer out to any location that someone has called in to say they have a maintenance issue that the landlord has not taken care of. Councilor Lonergan questioned as to why rental manufactured homes are not included in this ordinance since many are not located in a manufactured home park. He also questioned if a duplex is covered under the ordinance. Building Official Krieg stated that duplexes are covered under the draft ordinance. In regards to manufactured dwelling parks, there is a state law that governs these parks and they are inspected by the State with certain standards in which they need to be constructed and maintained. The State Building Codes Division conducts the inspections and state law would supercede the City's ordinance provisions. He also stated that he was unsure if the state law covered livability standards of these dwellings. Councilor Cox stated that the City's ordinance should include manufactured homes if the state law does not cover livability standards. Page 4 - Council Meeting Workshop Minutes, December 10, 2007 COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES DECEMBER 10, 2007 TAPE READING Councilor Lonergan stated that the plumbing section within the draft ordinance does not cover a provision on the number of bathrooms. Building Official Krieg stated that there is no state law that mandates the number of restroom facilities in a dwelling but it does require a functioning restroom facility within the dwelling. Councilor Lonergan stated that the draft ordinance prohibits any type of space heater and, in cases of older homes, the property owner would incur a large expense in order to conform to the requirements within this document. He questioned the window requirement in homes that have basements which were built prior to the current standard being adopted. He stated that his biggest concern is overcrowding since the square footage allowance in the ordinance is too low and cited, for example, that a 1500 sq. foot home could have 11 people residing in the home. He felt that the 150 sq. feet minimum standard should be increased to 300 sq. feet plus one additional person thereby reducing the number of residents in a 1500 sq. foot home to 6 residents. Community Development Director Allen stated that the City currently does not have an ordinance that would address the number residents in a dwelling based on square footage. He stated that the overcrowding clause in the draft ordinance pertains to habitable rooms which would require subtraction of square footage for restrooms, closets, hallways, and staircases to arrive at habitable space which is defined in the ordinance. Staff had looked at sample ordinances that included a square footage value and a value of approximately 150 sq. feet was more commonly used. He stated that there are certain dwellings within our community that would need this type of square footage number in order to be where they are today whether it be owner-occupied or rental units. Councilor McCallum questioned if the City currently has an ordinance that addresses the number of people in a house that involves immediate family and extended family. Administrator Brown stated that there was a time in which the City was looking at 5 un- related adults in a household but he was unsure as to why that was not adopted. Since there are no legal standards to go by, staff has found that cities have handled the this issue in different ways and, in the City of Portland, they use 1 person for 100 sq. feet as their maximum number of residents in a dwelling. Councilor Cox reminded the Council that in adopting a housing ordinance, a bottom level number needs to be established relating to the number of residents in a dwelling based on habitable square footage. Discussion was held regarding an occupancy limit under this ordinance and it was suggested that staff look at other ways to address this issue. 1648 Mayor Figley recessed the workshop at 6:59 p.m. in order to call the regular meeting to order. At 8:05 p.m., Mayor Figley reconvened the workshop. She reminded the Council that there were discussing the desirability and possibility of enforcing some number of maximum residents within a dwelling based on habitable square footage. Page 5 - Council Meeting Workshop Minutes, December 10, 2007 COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES DECEMBER 10, 2007 TAPE READING Administrator Brown stated that during the break, staff briefly discussed this issue and would like to recommend that the number be pulled out of the ordinance and then do research into City standards to see if the City would have the ability to regulate the number of residents within a household. If a regulation can be adopted, the Council can deal with it on a stand-alone basis rather than including it in this ordinance. Councilor Lonergan reiterated his concern regarding the overcrowding issue and felt that some maximum limit should be placed on how many people reside in a dwelling. Councilor Cox stated that he would support a reasonable standard if it is allowed, however, he felt that it would create a problem by leaving it in the housing code since it takes away from the general focus of this ordinance. Councilor Bjelland concurred with the comments made on the overcrowding issue since that is one of the major complaints he has heard from constituents. However, the proper methodology to arrive at an overcrowding level will be the difficult part since there have been a number of approaches used to by different agencies to establish standards. 1851 In regards to other provisions within the draft ordinance, Councilor Cox requested that the manufactured housing language be left in the ordinance if the City has any authority to regulate this type of housing. He stated that throughout the draft document the word "approved" appears but the word needs to be clarified and listed in the definition section of the ordinance. He expressed concern about the minimum window requirement and, as mentioned by Councilor Lonergan earlier, questioned if the requirement was too strict. He also mentioned that the last sentence of subsection H( 1) relating to basement windows did not make any sense to him and requested clarification of its meaning. Mayor Figley stated that this sentence would address the need for adequate light for a basement apartment or basement bedrooms versus a rental house that happens to include a basement. 1950 Councilor Cox questioned the meaning of the word "listed" in Section 6(K) and, within the appeal process, the language needs to be amended in that the notice of the appeal shall be filed with the court and the court would notify the applicable parties as part of the court process. In Section l2(b), he suggested that the sentence should be modified in that the notice of the hearing should state when and where the hearing will be held. Lastly, he stated that, based on earlier discussion, Section 17 relating to fees will either be eliminated or left at a zero amount for the time being. 2050 Councilor Lonergan questioned Section l5(A) in that he did not understand the meaning of "open to the public" for the purpose of investigation since this ordinance would pertain to private residences. Councilor Cox stated that this would apply to the exterior of the building that can be seen without entering the residence such as windows, siding, roofing, and foundation. City Attorney Shields stated that he would look at this section when reviewing the other sections of the ordinance. Councilor Cox also mentioned that the temperature standard for the hot water heater Page 6 - Council Meeting Workshop Minutes, December 10, 2007 COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES DECEMBER 10, 2007 TAPE READING might need to be reduced to 1100. He stated that the State's Landlord Tenant Act lists livability standards that have to be met and suggested that copying their standards into the City's ordinance will cover the majority of the issues that the City is trying take care of within the housing ordinance. Councilor Nichols also mentioned that consideration should be given to requiring a carbon monoxide detector in addition to a smoke detector in rental homes. 2160 Councilor Bjelland stated that issues needing more research involve (1) whether or not manufactured dwellings located in a manufactured dwelling park is adequately covered by the Building Code Division, (2) overcrowding and approaches that can be taken to address this issue include what is outlined in the draft ordinance, the number of persons per room, and the number of persons per bedroom, and (3) windows. Councilor Cox agreed that these issues need more research but suggested that staff conduct the research over the next few weeks and, if it turns out that issues like overcrowding involves a larger policy issue, then adopt the housing ordinance without that issue at this time with an amendment or stand alone ordinance to be considered at a later date. Discussion was held regarding the next meeting date in which the document will be brought back to the Council for consideration. Administrator Brown stated that the second meeting in January 2008 would be sufficient time for staff to bring the draft back for further review which will include suggested language changes that meet the needs identified by the Council. He reminded the Council that he would like the opportunity to share the draft ordinance with landlords to obtain their input before the ordinance is finally adopted. He suggested that the second meeting in January would be another workshop reviewing the revised draft document and, if approved, then allow staff a few weeks to receive feedback from landlords, with a final decision to be made in February. It was the consensus of the Council to proceed with the process as outlined by Administrator Brown. 2340 NICHOLS/LONERGAN... defer this discussion to the second regular meeting in January 2008. The motion passed unanimously. 2350 ADJOURNMENT. MCCALLUM/NICHOLS... workshop be adjourned. The workshop concluded at 8:27 p.m.. ATTEST {Y\~~~+ Mary Tennant, Recorder City of Woodburn, Oregon Page 7 - Council Meeting Workshop Minutes, December 10, 2007