COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC HEARING AND PUBLIC MEETING BEFORE COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON LICENSES & INSPECTIONS - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 3/21/01 10:22 a.m. - - - BILL 000602 - Held at request of sponsor. BILL 000712 - Amending Title 4 of the Philadelphia Code, Subcode "A," and Subcode "PM" by amending Section A-906.5, entitled "Vacant Property License," and Section PM-102.4, entitled "Vacant Structures and Lots," by including vacant commercial buildings and lots and vacant wharves, piers, and docks as properties to be licensed under certain terms and conditions. BILL 000713 - Requiring owners of vacant lots and vacant buildings to post a bond or other security for the City's potential costs in correcting code violations or abating unsafe or eminently dangerous conditions. RES. 000665 - Held at request of Administration. (Full text of all bills appear within transcript.) PRESENT: COUNCILMAN RICHARD T. MARIANO, Chair COUNCILMAN DARRELL CLARKE, Vice Chair COUNCILMAN FRANK DICICCO COUNCILWOMAN JOAN KRAJEWSKI COUNCILMAN MICHAEL A. NUTTER COUNCILMAN ANGEL L. ORTIZ COUNCILWOMAN BLONDELL REYNOLDS BROWN - - - VINCENT VARALLO ASSOCIATES, INC. Registered Professional Reporters Eleven Penn Center, Suite 600 Philadelphia, PA 19103 (215) 561-2220 2 3/21/01 L&I COMMITTEE I N D E X Bill 000712 O. Haigler, Regulatory Affairs, Streets Dept. Bill 000713 O. Haigler, Regulatory Affairs, Streets Dept. 7 8 9 3 3/21/01 L&I - BILL 000602 P R O C E E D I N G S
The committee on Licenses and Inspections public hearing is now open. Mr. Allen, will you read the first bill 6 that we're going to do. Go ahead.
Bill 000602, an ordinance 8 amending Subcode "PM" of Title 4 of the Philadelphia Code, entitled "The Property Maintenance Code," by providing for the suspension and revocation of a residential rental property license, multi-family dwelling license, rooming house license, or vacant lot or building license.
All right, let me say who's here: Councilman Mariano, that's myself, my dear friend and colleague Councilman Nutter, Councilwoman Krajewski, and Councilman Clarke. All right, do we have any -- Otis -- okay, this bill is on hold. Bill 000602 is being held at the request Councilwoman Krajewski. The clerk will read the title of Bill 23 000712.
An ordinance amending Title 4 of the Philadelphia Code, Subcode "A," and 4 3/21/01 L&I - BILL 000712 Subcode "PM" by amending Section A-906.5, entitled "Vacant Property License," and Section PM-102.4, entitled "Vacant Structures and Lots," by including vacant commercial buildings and lots and vacant wharves, piers, and docks as properties to be licensed under certain terms and conditions.
Mr. Haigler, are you here to testify for the administration?
Yes. Good day, Councilman Mariano and members of the Committee on L&I. I am Otis Haigler, Jr., Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Manager for the Department of Licenses and Inspections. Today, I'm here to provide testimony on Bill No. 000712, which, if enacted, will amend the administrative and property maintenance codes to provide for the licensure of vacant commercial buildings and lots, as well as vacant wharves, piers, and docks. The purpose of this bill is to close a gap in the requirements of the administrative and property maintenance codes governing the licensure of vacant buildings and lots. The current requirements of the codes only allow for the 5 3/21/01 L&I - BILL 000712 licensure of vacant residential buildings and lots. Due to the recent vacant survey conducted by the Department, we were able to identify 2,950 vacant commercial buildings. Additionally, after the tragic circumstances related to the Pier 34 collapse, the Department conducted a survey of all piers in the City and found a total of 147 piers, with 72 of them being vacant. We believe that with the proper licensing and registration of these properties, this will enhance our enforcement efforts to determine the responsible parties to hold accountable for the maintenance of these properties. This will also aid the Department to maintain an up-to-date registry of the property ownership since a new license will be required of any subsequent owner who takes possession of the property through any real estate transaction. The fees which will be charged for the license is nominal and will cover the cost of processing the license and conducting follow-up inspection of the properties. 6 3/21/01 L&I - BILL 000712 We thank the L&I Committee for allowing us to provide testimony on Bill 000712 and request that the rules of Council be suspended so as to permit first reading of this bill at the next session of Council. I will be happy to answer any questions you may have.
Is there any questions for Mr. Haigler from the committee? Councilman DiCicco.
You say in your testimony that you -- what you're requesting here basically is the licensing and registration of these vacant properties. Are they not registered in some fashion already?
No, sir. Vacant commercials are not -- in accordance with the provisions of the Property Maintenance Code, as well as administrative code, there are no 25 provisions in any one of those codes to license 7 3/21/01 L&I - BILL 000712 vacant properties. There are provisions in there to license vacant residential buildings and lots but not vacant commercial. We don't have anything in the codes to allow us to do that.
What will be the fee structure? Is that going to be by square footage or --
No, sir, it's $25, a flat fee of $25 per property. And that's primarily to cover the cost of licensing the property as well as doing follow-up inspections of the properties.
And bucks is 17 enough to get us there, to do the annual 18 inspections? 19
The inspections is 20 primarily a cursory inspection to make sure -- to 21 see what the condition are. We're not actually 22 going inside the vacant properties; we're just 23 going through to make sure that they're still in 24 the same condition that they were before. 25 So it's not something where we're 8 3/21/01 L&I - BILL 000712 actually going in and doing an in-depth inspection of all of the excess and all the normal equipment requirements that are found in buildings. We're just -- it's basically a cursory inspection.
Okay. I'll wait till we get to the next bill. I think that might clear up some of my questions.
I just want to say that Councilman Ortiz and Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown has joined the committee. Any other questions from the committee? (No further questions.)
Seeing none -- you got any more questions, Councilman DiCicco? We're going to go on to the next bill. Hughie?
Bill 000713, an ordinance 20 amending Subcode "PM" of Title 4 the Philadelphia Code, entitled "The Philadelphia Property Maintenance Code," by requiring owners of vacant lots and vacant buildings to post a bond or other security for the City's potential costs in correcting code violations or abating unsafe or 9 3/21/01 L&I - BILL 000713 eminently dangerous conditions when authorized by law; providing that failure to post such security will result in suspension of the vacant property licenses and all other licenses issued to such persons under the Property Maintenance Code, including residential rental property license, multifamily dwelling license, and rooming house licenses, until such security is posted; and providing that during such a period of license suspension, there shall be no right to recover possession of premises or to collect rent, all under certain terms and conditions.
Thank you. Just let me say, this was my bill, and the reason I did this is, we copied this on a bill 17 from Chicago, an ordinance which allows the City to recoup the cost of code violations through a bond requirement. Did you read the amendments, Mr. Allen?
Good day, Councilman 10 3/21/01 L&I - BILL 000713 Mariano and members of the Committee. I am Otis Haigler, Jr., Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Manager for the Department of Licenses and Inspections. Today, I am here to provide testimony on Bill 000713, which, if enacted, will amend the Property Maintenance Code to provide for the posting of a bond on vacant property for the purposes of reimbursing the City for the cost of abating unsafe and eminently dangerous conditions associated with the property. The Department applauds the work of this Council, and in particular, the work of Councilman Mariano for both the submission of Bill 16 000713 and also for providing other assistance which enhances and strengthens the tools of L&I as we fight a common problem faced by both the Council and the Administration -- vacant, blighted properties. After a careful review of Bill 000713 with senior members of the Department, it was agreed that this bill has great merit and the intentions for which it was drafted, namely to reduce the burden on the Department's resources to 11 3/21/01 L&I - BILL 000713 abate deleterious conditions associated with vacant properties found within the neighborhoods of the City, are commendable. However, we would like to respectfully offer amendments to the bill 6 which we feel will increase the likelihood for compliance by the owners of specifically vacant commercial structures. It has been our experience that ascertaining a responsible party for vacant commercial structures is more feasible than for residential properties since vacant are buildings owned by businesses, which, for various reasons, may have closed their operations within the City, but in some way, either through corporate ownership or trusteeship, maintain responsibility for the property. This information could be obtained from various City records, and the likelihood of finding a responsible party to comply with the provisions of this bill is greater for this type of occupancy. Also, based on our experience, the greatest drain on our resources for demolitions where bonds would be of the greatest assistance comes from the abatement of these types of occupancies. 12 3/21/01 L&I - BILL 000713 The amendments offered by the Department will address our concerns and is in line with the intent for which the bill was introduced and will not add any additional burdens on the Department to enforce its provisions. It is, therefore, with great pleasure that the Department endorses a favorable consideration of this bill, with the stipulated amendments by the Committee, and we look forward to continuing this cooperative effort to address our common concerns. Thank you. And I'll be happy to address any questions you may have at this time.
Thank you, Mr. Haigler. Any questions? Councilman DiCicco.
Thank you. Unless I'm reading this wrong, my concern is, it says that any person who takes ownership of a property pursuant to the abatement agreement under the Emergency Nuisance Abatements Program set forth in Section PM-309.0 shall be exempt from the foregoing license and bond 13 3/21/01 L&I - BILL 000713 requirements for a period of two years after taking ownership. What mechanisms do we have or safeguards do we have in place that will prevent someone from just changing corporate names to get around the bond requirement or ownership?
That was an administrative amendment to this bill, but the amendment that we offered, which is further included within the bill itself, it says that the bond or other security shall provide that it will not expire, and the City need not release it upon transfer of the property, unless and until a subsequent owner posts a comparable bond or other security. That's the amendment that we offered and that kind of closes that gap.
Okay. So if I own a building and I put up the required bond, but the building is still vacant and there are other issues, L&I violations that I am cited for, does the dollar amount of the abatement to the property come out of the bond, or is that a separate --
I believe it comes out of the bond because in the case in the bill that the 14 3/21/01 L&I - BILL 000713 bond is for abating the property, whatever we have to do to abate the property, we could go after the proceeds from the bond that was posted to do that.
What happens if the abatement exceeds whatever the bond was? I mean, I'm going back to a bill that we did about a year or so ago -- I call it the "Broken Window Bill," I can't remember the name -- where L&I now has the authority to cite a property owner for every day after the proscribed period of time to make the corrections for every broken window, a $300 for every broken window in that building. I mean, in the building, the infamous building in Councilman Clarke's building I always refer to, around 22nd and Arch, there are probably a couple thousand windows in that building, so at $300 a day, if we were to do that, it will probably exceed the bond requirements in the matter of a week.
I'm not sure of that. I think that's two separate issues there. One addresses court fines that may be placed against 15 3/21/01 L&I - BILL 000713 the property. The other one deals specifically with the abating of the property. And the bond primarily would be for the demolition. When we have to deal with taking that property down, the City will be reimbursed the cost of what they put out to demolish the property. We got a cost figure from our Deputy Commissioner this morning that the average cost to demolish a vacant commercial property runs somewhere in the neighborhood of between 80 to $100,000. So the City would be recovering that cost, the cost that it actually puts out to take care of that dangerous condition of that property.
But it won't have any other effect on the other violations that the building may be cited for.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just very quickly, Mr. Haigler, I've 16 3/21/01 L&I - BILL 000713 been distracted on a couple of occasions. Can you tell me in words or less with the amendments 4 how this will all work and what the bill will do 5 and how it will play out from a process 6 standpoint? 7
Sure. I'll attempt to. 8 I'm not an expert on bonds, but I'll attempt to do 9 the best I can. 10 The way it will work is that, as the 11 bill reads, the Law Department will determine the 12 bond that's needed for the property. Every vacant 13 commercial building -- and this goes hand and hand 14 with the other bill, 712. So now that we will be 15 able to license vacant commercial buildings -- 16
Let's get down to 20 the part about -- right at the bottom of the bill, 21 it talks about license suspension, including 22 residential rental property licenses, multifamily 23 dwelling licenses, rooming house licenses until 24 the security is posted and providing during such a 25 period of license suspension, there shall be no 17 3/21/01 L&I - BILL 000713 right to recover possession of premises or to collect rent.
In actuality, that section of the bill does not really apply to the amendments that we've issued. The amendments we've issued only cover vacant commercial property. So that section of the bill is a current requirement that's in the bill now.
No further questions for this witness. We're going to hold the next one right? All right, next is Bill No. 000655 -- it's a resolution, actually. He's going to read it now. 18 3/21/01 L&I - RES. 000665
Resolution 000665, a resolution authorizing the Committee on Licenses and Inspections to hold hearings on ways to provide better coordination and access to records among City agencies and ways in which the Department of Licenses and Inspections can be more proactive for citizens through the increased use of the Internet.
And we're going to hold this one, okay, under an Administration request. So we're going to go right out of our hearing into the meeting. - - - 19 3/21/01 L&I - PUBLIC MEETING
So we're going to open the public meeting of Licenses and Inspections, and we have a quorum.
All right, I move that Bill No. 000712 be reported out of a committee with a favorable recommendation and a recommendation that the rules of Council be suspended. (Duly seconded.)
All in favor? All against? No against. It passes. Thank you.
I move that the amendments to Bill No. 000713, as recorded earlier, be reported out of this committee with a favorable recommendation. (Duly seconded.)
We have a second. All those in favor? Opposed? None. Seeing none, it passes. The amendments 20 3/21/01 L&I - PUBLIC MEETING pass.
I move that Bill 4 No. 000713, as amended, be reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation and that the rules of Council be suspended. (Duly seconded.)
We hear a second. All those in favor? Opposed? Seeing none. So Bill No. 000713, as amended, passes with a favorable recommendation and a suspension of the rules. That would be the end of the public meeting on Council's Committee on Licenses and Inspections. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. (Adjourned 11:40 a.m.) 21 C E R T I F I C A T E I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing proceedings of the Council of the City of Philadelphia of Wednesday, March 21, 2001, were reported fully and accurately by me, and that this is a correct transcript of same. RE: COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON LICENSES AND INSPECTIONS BILL NO.'S 000712, 000713 __________________________________, JOSEPHINE CARDILLO, Registered Professional Reporter