Cedar Rapids residents tired of eyesores in community move to enact vacant, neglected property registration

 

Cedar Rapids, IA: After years of dilapidated homes dotting the landscape, Community members became fed up and lobbied the City Council to approve and finalize a vacant property registration ordinance.

 

At the City Council meeting, Kevin Ciabatti, the director for the Department of Building Services, said, “[P]roperty unoccupied and unsecured; unoccupied and secured by boarded-up windows or other means not used in the design of the house; unoccupied with code violations; or unoccupied and declared dangerous,” that sits unoccupied for six or more months will be held accountable under the new ordinance.

 

The ordinance will stipulate owners of vacant or abandoned properties must register with the city, pay an annual fee, and provide a detailed plan for rejuvenation of the property in order to keep the property in line with city code.

 

However, vacant properties or properties currently undergoing renovations will not be required to register or pay an annual fee so long as those properties are kept up to code.

 

Ascent combines focused research and centralized operations oversight to create innovative outsourced solutions for code enforcement violations, vacant property registration ordinances, property preservation, and other vendor management needs from across the United States.