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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-12-04 Business and Economic Development Committee Minutes BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE Tuesday, December 4, 2012 5:00 PM City Council Chambers Minutes Councilors Present: Sprague, Blanchette, Hawes, Longo, Baldacci and Civiello Staff: Conlow, Vanadestine, Wallace Chair Sprague called the meeting to order. CONSENT AGENDA 1. Community Development Residential Rehabilitation Deferred Loan – 61 Walter Street. Councilor Blanchette moved to approve the Consent Agenda. The motion was seconded by Councilor Baldacci. The Committee voted unanimously in favor of the motion approving the Consent Agenda for a Community Development Residential Rehabilitation Deferred Loan at 61 Walter Street. REGULAR AGENDA 2. Discussion and Process on Disruptive Property Ordinance Chair Sprague opened the discussion for public comments. Andrew Farnham, owner of two adjacent properties on Fern Street, distributed to the Committee copies of the proposed Ordinance with highlighted areas that he had concerns about. He discussed what a nuisance activity is, other definitions that he thought were vague, how noise would be measured, and suggested that landlords be required to obtain a license as a business does. He said that he felt that the real problem is not the landlord but the tenants. He had questions about General Assistance and its duration. Councilor Baldacci indicated that he would prefer that the City try to engage in a partnership with the landlords and the neighbors so as not to punish the landlords. There are many good landlords and the City wants to encourage owning property. He indicated that he felt that there are legal issues with the proposed ordinance in terms of constitutionality, vagueness and enforcement. It was noted that the Greater Bangor Apartment Owners and Managers Association has endorsed the proposed Ordinance. Mr. Farnham indicated that he is a member of that organization and he hasn’t signed off on this. He said that while the goals are good, he asked the Committee to table this to discuss it further. 2 Councilor Civiello indicated that she did not see this as a punishment toward landlords but a tool to help them. There have been discussions about using the Bangor Housing Authority’s application form and doing background checks on perspective tenants. This Ordinance is for those landlords that ignore and ignore. Most landlords are good landlords and this is not going to affect them. Councilor Sprague noted that once a landlord has started the eviction process there are no more penalties applied. Councilor Blanchette indicated that she applauded everyone who has working on this but she did feel that it wasn’t anywhere near ready to be adopted. She felt that there needs to be further study done. City Manager Cathy Conlow indicated that Staff could forward the comments to City Solicitor Norm Heitmann and come back to the Committee in two weeks. Councilor Sprague said that the original intent of this ordinance is to deal with the chronic problem landlords by giving tools to the Police Department and the Code Enforcement Office. He indicated that the point of this discussion is to gather information, hear comments and put them into the record. Steven Hicks, a lower west side resident, indicated that he fully supports going forward with the proposed ordinance. He would support any proposal to give more stringent tools to control tenants. Lisa Bollard, a Webster Avenue North resident, indicated that she attended the first meeting and noted a number of events that have happened since that time. There are certain apartment complexes that attract less desirable tenants and behaviors that impact the neighborhood every day. In her neighborhood they don’t know what their children will be subjected to next. They have formed a neighborhood watch but something needs to happen to address these issues. She indicated that while she is not sure that this ordinance is the solution or not but it is the start. She said that they would be willing to work with the landlords and if there is any way they can help they would be willing to do so. Michael Rolnick, a Bangor landlord, agreed with Ms. Bollard that something needs to happen. He said that he felt that the Police Department will need additional help. He was concerned about separability and constitutional issues with this ordinance. He suggested drug testing applicants who receive General Assistance and making it more difficult for them to receive it. If it is made unpalatable for the people who are causing the problem then they won’t stay. Councilor Sprague indicated that General Assistance is a regulation program. Councilor Baldacci asked if the City could impose drug testing for General Assistance. Nicklas indicated that he would look into this. 3 Councilor Longo indicated that Staff has been working with the Greater Bangor Area Apartment Managers Association to draft language to share with our Legislators. He said that he didn’t feel that General Assistance recipients are necessarily the problem but that the criminals are the problem. He indicated that he felt the need to do something and the courage to pass something even though it may not be perfect. Frank Harnett who resides at 30 Webster Avenue North told the Committee that the City Manager and Norm Heitmann have been working very hard to craft an ordinance to help everyone. This is a quality of life issue. He urged the Committee to pass the ordinance with some “teeth” in it so that they can live in their neighborhood in harmony. He said that the Bangor Efficiency Apartments is a nightmare for the neighborhood, his house value has declined to the point that they cannot sell. Dan Tremble, of Montgomery Street, sympathized with the neighbors on this street (Webster Avenue North). He commented that if the Council moves forward with this that he felt that the threshold requirement should be higher than 2 incidents to trigger some enforcement activity. Councilor Baldacci expressed his concern about the effectiveness of this ordinance and said that there needs to be more policing and code enforcement. He felt that before acting on this, they need to study how it is going to be implemented, enforced and what impact it will have on people. Also, they need to have a discussion about specific target problem landlords. The Webster Avenue North residents need relief from Bangor Efficiency Apartments. Barbara Roy, another Webster Avenue North resident, said that they are not living under a mask of thinking that this ordinance is Bangor’s answer. She said that other suggestions could include requiring repeat offenders to hire their own security instead of using the Police Department as their property managers, or having police officers get more involved with the neighborhoods. This is a start. It most likely will need to be tweaked but the time to implement this is now. Councilor Civiello said that she had reviewed the proposed ordinance with Norm Heitmann. She said that he feels that the proposed ordinance has “teeth” and he recommended it. She said that this needs to be implemented to see where it needs to be fixed. She indicated that she is in favor of going forward with this ordinance. Councilor Longo moved that that Committee recommend that the proposed th ordinance go to the full Council for first reading on December 26. The motion was seconded and it passed. 4 Conlow recommended that the Committee wait until after the first of year due to the Christmas holiday. Councilor Baldacci ask for an additional session with the full Council to go over the ordinance with the City Solicitor and asked that those in attendance at this meeting be noticed of that session. 3. Executive Session – Economic Development – Negotiations for Disposition of Property in the Maine Business Enterprise Park – 1 M.R.S.A. § 405(6)(C) Councilor Baldacci moved to go into Executive Session. The motion was seconded by Councilor Longo, and it passed. It was moved, and seconded to exit executive session. 4. Committee Action on Above Item The Committee indicated support of continued negotiations for the proposed project.