Chapter 17.67
USE REVIEW STANDARDS
Sections:
17.67.020 Uses subject to review.
17.67.030 Basis to initiate a review.
17.67.050 Alternative remedies.
17.67.010 Purpose.
The purpose of this chapter is to provide the city with a means to review certain rental uses of dwellings and other housing services within the city to ensure those uses are not a detriment to the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of the city, are not an undue drain on city enforcement and compliance resources and not an undesirable presence within the area where the use is located, potentially lowering property values. (Ord. 1244 § 1 (part), 2007).
17.67.020 Uses subject to review.
All multiple-family dwellings offered for rental occupancy to include duplex, triplex, fourplex, apartment houses, apartment courts and bungalow courts and all rental housing units to include motels, hotels, lodging houses, boarding houses, bunk houses, hostels, dormitories, fraternities, bed and breakfasts and time share condominiums are subject to use review under this chapter. (Ord. 1244 § 1 (part), 2007).
17.67.030 Basis to initiate a review.
(a) A city review of the conditions of use and condition of properties subject to this chapter may be initiated by citizen complaints, staff observations or requests for review from property owners or occupants.
(b) A city review may begin upon any indication that the occupants or guests of occupants are engaged in conduct that is detrimental to the health, safety or welfare of the community. Examples of such conduct are:
(1) Evidence of police responses to alleged criminal activity related to assaults or batteries, including domestic violence, at the property location in excess of the number of police responses to other similar housing types within the city.
(2) Evidence of life, health or safety code violations which continue after notification to the property owner that such life, health and safety code violations must be corrected and after allowing a period for compliance in light of the nature of the code violation. Such violations can include, but are not limited to, use of unpermitted cooking devices inside or outside the living quarters, the use of which constitutes a safety hazard, consumption of alcohol in unpermitted areas, occupancy loads exceeding the intended occupancy load of the living unit or exceeding the stated number of allowed occupants per any rental or lease agreement, or the parking of vehicles in excess of the number of provided parking spaces.
(3) Evidence of police responses to alleged criminal activity related to illegal drug use, delivery or manufacture at the property location.
(4) Evidence of police responses to alleged criminal activity conducted within the housing unit.
(5) Evidence persons not citizens of the United States or holding documentation of their ability to be lawfully within the United States are being housed.
(c) A city review of any motel, hotel, lodging house, boarding house, bunk house, hostel, dormitory, fraternity, bed and breakfast or time share condominium may begin upon any indication that more than fifty percent of the available spaces are being occupied on a tenancy of thirty days or more and there is evidence of potentially unacceptable behavior described in subsection (b) of this section is occurring at that location.
(d) A city review of any motel, hotel, lodging house, boarding house, bunk house, hostel, dormitory, fraternity, bed and breakfast or time share condominium may begin upon any indication that more than fifty percent of the available spaces have been rented by an employer or labor contractor for a tenancy of thirty days or more. (Ord. 1244 § 1 (part), 2007).
17.67.040 Review hearing.
(a) A city review of any of the conditions described in Section 17.67.030 as to any subject real property is initiated by a written notice delivered personally or by mail to the owner of the subject premises as that owner is identified in the records of the Adams County assessor and to the address shown in those records. Such notice shall be delivered or placed into the mail, postage prepaid, more than fourteen days prior to the hearing described in this section.
(b) Such notice shall cite with particularity the conditions existing or believed to be existing at the premises which is the basis for the review being conducted. Such notice shall contain copies of any police reports to be relied upon at the hearing, any written complaints received, any reports of city employees or officers made based upon observations or reports delivered to those employees or officers, any photographs or images to be relied upon at the hearing, and other evidence in the city’s possession that will be used at the hearing to establish a reviewable condition exists or is believed to exist on the subject premises. Such notice shall inform the owner that the city council will consider the adoption of a resolution imposing conditions upon the continued use of the subject property as a rental property for a specified time period.
(c) The city council shall conduct the hearing to review the condition of and uses at a subject property in its quasi-judicial capacity. The owner may appear before the city council at the time it considers such resolution, and that will be the owner’s only opportunity to respond to the allegations which have caused the city council to conduct this review.
(d) If after hearing the evidence produced at the hearing the city council determines that conditions exist or uses are ongoing at the subject property which are basis for the city council to impose for a specified period of time additional restrictions on the uses allowed at the subject property, the city council shall adopt a resolution to rectify those conditions or uses the council finds to be inappropriate. That resolution shall be specific as to the conduct to be limited or prohibited; the uses to be disallowed, limited or modified; or the persons not permitted to occupy the premises or only permitted to occupy the premises with conditions or limitations. (Ord. 1244 § 1 (part), 2007).
17.67.050 Alternative remedies.
As an alternative to the process set forth in Section 17.67.040, the city may make application to the superior court of Adams County for an injunction imposing conditions or limitations upon the occupancy, use or conduct of activities at a subject property. (Ord. 1244 § 1 (part), 2007).
17.67.060 Judicial review.
Any land owner feeling aggrieved by the decision of the city council in imposing conditions or limitations following a hearing before the city council as provided for in Section 17.67.040 may appeal within twenty-one days of such decision to the superior court under Chapter 36.70C RCW. (Ord. 1244 § 1 (part), 2007).