1989, 08-02 Unsafe Buildings LetterSpokane County
Department of Building & Safety
TO Dennis Scott, Public Works Director
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FROM: Jim MansoiI Vv`
DATE: August 2, 1989
RE Unsafe Buildings
JAMES L. MANSON, DIRECTOR
Following is a brief recap of our recent activities/involvement
pertaining to unsafe buildings:
As you may recall, in May of this year there was an uproar of
neighborhood complaints regarding a dilapidated single family
rental unit at North 1220 Boeing Road. While it was not, by
definition, "unsafe," it was somewhat neglected - built in 1943,
unkempt, lawn not mowed, needing of paint, etc., - what some might
consider a good "fixer upper." The neighbors alleged that our
unsafe building regulations were inadequate in addressing
structures such as the subject building and thought something ought
to be done about it.
Their complaints found their way to Commissioner Hasson who asked
us to look into our existing regulations to see if there was room
for improvement, if problems such as the Boeing Road structure
could be, or should be, addressed.
Commissioner Hasson, Jim Emacio, Mark Holman and myself met and
agreed that some changes probably were in order to address "unsafe
buildings" - both from a definition (code enforcement) and from a
legal process standpoint. Jim was to look into the legal process
and Building and Safety was going to look into the definition -
both were going to review the Uniform Code for the Abatement of
Dangerous Buildings (UCADB) (enclosed) as a potential alternate to
the existing County Code. This code is a "companion code" to the
Uniform Building Code, and is published by the International
Conference of Building Officials.
How and when "Legal Services" got involved I'm not sure.
Nonetheless, we met - I have enclosed copies of the paper trail
relative to our involvement with legal services.
Legal Services is basically interested in more of a "housing code,"
which sets forth minimum habitability standards, as opposed to an
"unsafe building code," which deals with minimum fire and life
WEST 1303 BROADWAY
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Dennis Scott Memorandum
August 2, 1989
Page 2
safety issues. Private remedies, as discussed in the July 24, 1989
memorandum from Legal Services (enclosed), are available under the
State Landlord Tenant Act to deal with problems Legal Services
feels needs addressing, however they feel these remedies are
"cumbersome and costly" and, as such, have turned to county
government.
During our meeting on the 24th of July, it was basically agreed
between Mr. Emacio, myself and Commissioner Hasson that we would
proceed with adoption of the UCADB which contained better
definitions and a cleaner process than the existing county code
pertaining to unsafe buildings.
Item 3 of the July 27, 1989 Legal Services correspondence
references this, however is not entirely accurate in that we,
Building and Safety and the County Prosecutor, intend(ed) to
proceed with adoption of the UCADB - if the Board feels additional
language and an enforcement program dealing with the issues raised
by Legal Services is desirable, we would proceed with development
at that time. Legal services is going to provide us with numbers
of complaints/properties they dealt with in 1988 in order that,
should the Board opt to proceed, we could project potential program
costs.
I hope this adequately addresses any questions you might have
regarding this issue and should you have any questions, please
call.
JLM:pjk