Larry Kleinhenz
Bartholomew County commissioners have approved increasing building permit fees and are providing new guidelines for securing abandoned buildings.
Both requests emerged from the Department of Technical Code Enforcement of Columbus/Bartholomew County.
There has not been an increase in building permit fees in Bartholomew County since 1999, Chief Code Enforcement Officer Michelle Cox said.
Although the public was given two weeks to provide feedback, as well as two separate public hearings, Cox and the county commissioners said they have heard nothing regarding the proposals.
Permits pertaining to commercial, industrial or multiple-family structures have 22 separate rate increases, while proposals regarding residential structures have 20 different hikes in permit fees.
In order to determine the new charges, Cox said she and her staff used the cost of building permits fees in all surrounding counties. Bartholomew County uses the midpoint of what is charged in neighboring counties, Cox said.
Earlier this month, Cox said she was unaware local building permit fees have been lower than in surrounding communities until a contractor brought it to her attention.
The increased cost for permits for new building construction, improvements, expansions and inspections will go into effect Oct 1.
In addition to fee increases, up until this year, Bartholomew County did not have a legal procedure that allowed employees to enter an abandoned building to secure it.
But now, the Department of Technical Code Enforcement has been given the means to board up abandoned homes or commercial structures as a matter of health and safety.
The county will handle long-abandoned houses and other buildings, including detached garages, in a fashion very similar to the way the county handles mowing of neglected or abandoned yards.
According to the ordinance, the owner would be notified and given 10 days to secure the property. If the structure remains unsecured, another 10-day notice will be sent out. After 20 days, the county or its representatives will board up windows, doors and any other significant opening into the home’s interior.
Provisions in the ordinance state the property owner will be billed for the direct cost to the county. If that cost is not paid, the amount owed would be added to the owner’s property taxes.
Indianapolis, and Fort Wayne already have a similar ordinance, the commissioners said. In some cities, ignoring the ordinance indefinitely could lead to demolishing the structure.
“We don’t want to do that,” said Commissioner Tony London. “All we want to do is secure a vacant, abandoned building so homeless people cannot move into it, or so the building doesn’t become overrun by wild animals.”
Commissioner Larry Kleinhenz says many of these homes become abandoned when the owner suddenly moves out-of-state, or is placed in a facility such as a nursing home after becoming disabled.
“We won’t be aggressively going after people on this,” Kleinhenz said. “But I think about 90% of the public would agree with us on this. “
At this time, there are only about four homes in Bartholomew County that need to be secured, Cox said.
