You asked for a summary of a Wilmington, Delaware, ordinance that requires owners of property that has been vacant for more than one year to pay a registration fee to the city. You also wanted to know whether municipalities in Connecticut could adopt a similar ordinance.

SUMMARY

The ordinance requires owners of buildings that have been vacant for more than 45 days to register with the city. It requires owners of buildings that have been vacant for one year or more to pay an annual registration fee, which increases with the length of time the building has been vacant. It provides a one-year fee waiver (two years in the case of building owned by a non-profit organization) if the owner demonstrates that he is rehabilitating the building or trying to sell or lease it.

It does not appear that current Connecticut law allows municipalities to adopt similar ordinances. But, municipalities can use several mechanisms to address vacant buildings that are blighted or considered nuisances.

WILMINGTON VACANT BUILDING ORDINANCE

The ordinance (§ 125. 0 of the Wilmington municipal code, attached) requires the owners of all vacant buildings to register with the city's Department of Licenses and Inspection. The requirement applies to (1) residential buildings that contain one or more units that have been vacant for more than 45 days and (2) non-residential buildings that have been vacant for more than 45 days. A building is considered vacant if there is no one there who lawfully lives in the building or conducts a lawfully licensed business there. The requirement applies whether the building is open (e. g. , has broken windows) or secure. But it does not apply to buildings owned by federal, state, or city agencies.

The registration must list the name and address of the building's owners. The registration form also must include a person who will serve as a contact in case of an emergency and as agent for service of process and other notices. A property owner can file one registration for all of his vacant buildings.

If the property has been vacant for one or more, the owner must pay an annual registration fee that increases with the amount of time the building has been vacant. The registration fee is:

1. $ 500 for buildings that have been vacant for one to two years;

2. $ 1,000 for buildings that have been vacant for two to three years;

3. $ 2,000 for buildings that have been vacant for three to five years;

4. $ 3,500 for buildings that have been vacant for five to ten years; and

5. $ 5,000 for buildings that have been vacant for ten years.

The fee increases by $ 500 for each year beyond ten that the building has been vacant.

The city can grant the building owner a one-year fee waiver if he:

1. demonstrates that he is demolishing, rehabilitating, or repairing the building and the amount of time that this will take; or

2. shows that he is actively attempting to sell or lease the property.

In the case of a building owned by a non-profit (501c) organization, the waiver is for two years.

According to the ordinance, the purposes of the registration and fee requirements are to:

1. help the city protect public health, safety, and welfare;

2. monitor the number of vacant buildings, particularly in the downtown area;

3. assess the effects of vacant buildings on nearby properties, particularly with regard to fire hazards and illegal occupancy by transients; and

4. promote efforts to rehabilitate the vacant buildings.

ADOPTING SIMILAR ORDINANCES IN CONNECTICUT

It does not appear that current Connecticut law allows municipalities to adopt ordinances similar to Wilmington's. Municipalities only have those powers granted to them by statute or special act, or that are implied as necessary to carry out expressly granted powers. The law allows municipalities to deal with problems often associated with vacant property.

For example, CGS § 7-147 allows municipalities to adopt ordinances to (1) define, prohibit, and abate nuisances and (2) prevent housing blight. The nuisance ordinances can allow the municipality to bill the owner of properties that are nuisances for the abatement of the nuisance. The blight ordinances can require owners to maintain their property and can impose fine of up to $ 100 per day that a violation continues. However, a vacant building is not necessarily a nuisance or blighted. Moreover, it is not clear that a municipality can impose a fee on building that is vacant, as distinct from imposing fines on blighted buildings or recovering its costs in abating nuisances.

OLR Report 2000-R-0567 describes several mechanism municipalities can use in addressing blighted property, including the creation of neighborhood revitalization zones and urban homesteading programs. OLR Reports 2003-R-0771 and 2002-R-0255 discuss blight ordinances, including ordinances in Farmington and Middletown, which specifically address vacant buildings.

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