BUTTE – Officials in Butte want to update the city’s “dilapidated buildings ordinance” to make dealing with abandoned buildings a faster process.
“There’s roofs that leak or no roofs, windows that are broken out, drain systems that don’t work,” said Butte Director of Community Development Ed Randall.
This is why Butte is updating its dilapidated buildings ordinance to fast track the process of getting buildings fixed before they fall into disrepair.
“Basically, make folks take care of their properties. Get them safe, get roofs on them, not just patches, have good drainage systems, make then aesthetically pleasing,” Randall explained.
The city notes that too many buildings are becoming public hazards.
“[What we’re allowing] now is demolition by neglect and we have to come to a point as a county to say we don’t want this anymore,” Randall told MTN News.
The city has done economic development studies and they found that maintaining these unused and dilapidated buildings is a major factor in economic development.
“It can affect economic development and it does, it can affect neighbors and homeowners that own adjacent properties,” Randall said. “And so there’s a million different reason why we should be doing what we should be doing.”
The updated ordinance is being discussed at the Council of Commissioner’s Judiciary Committee on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
-John Emeigh reporting for MTN News
