Ordinance No. 7,068940811 -12
ORDINANCE NO. 7068
• AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 33 "URBAN REHABILITATION
STANDARDS," ARTICLE III "URBAN REHABILITATION STANDARDS
REVIEW BOARD," SECTION 33 -19 "PUBLIC MEETING," SECTION
33 -20 "APPEALS TO THE BOARD," SECTION 33 -22 "NOTICE OF
INTENT TO DEMOLISH," AND SECTION 33 -23 "NOTICE OF
HEARING," OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES, CITY OF BAYTOWN,
TEXAS; PROVIDING A REPEALING CLAUSE; CONTAINING A SAVINGS
CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR THE EFFECTIVE DATE THEREOF.
Section 1: That Chapter 33 "Urban Rehabilitation Standards,"
Article III "Urban Rehabilitation Standards Review Board," Section
33 -19 "Public Meeting," of the Code of Ordinances, City of Baytown,
Texas, is hereby amended to read as follows:
Sec. 33 -19. Public meeting.
All meetings of the board shall be open to the public,
except as provided in the Texas Open Meetings Act and
amendments thereto. For every meeting open to the public, the
board shall keep minutes, which must state the subject matter
of the deliberation and indicate each vote order, decision, or
action taken by the board. The minutes shall be immediately
filed in the office of the chief building inspector or his
designee and shall be a public record. For every closed
meeting, the board shall keep a certified agenda or make a
tape recording of such proceedings; however, no certified
agenda or tape recording shall be kept if such closed meeting
is called for the purpose of private consultation, as
permitted under Section 551.071 of the Texas Government Code.
The chief building inspector or his designated representative
shall act as secretary to the board.
Section 2: That Chapter 33 "Urban Rehabilitation Standards,"
Article III "Urban Rehabilitation Standards Review Board," Section
33 -20 "Appeals to the Board," of the Code of Ordinances, City of
Baytown, Texas, is hereby amended to read as follows:
Sec. 33 -20. Appeals to the board.
Appeals to the board can be taken by any person aggrieved
or by an officer, department, or board of the municipality
affected by any decision of the chief building inspector or
his designee. Such appeal shall be taken within ten (10) days
after the decision of the chief building inspector or his
designee has been rendered by filing in the office of the
chief building inspector or his designee a notice of appeal
specifying the grounds thereof. The inspector or his designee
shall cause all documents constituting the records upon which
the action was appealed from to be forwarded to the board.
• Section 3: That Chapter 33 "Urban Rehabilitation Standards,"
Article III "Urban Rehabilitation Standards Review Board,"
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Section 33 -22 "Notice of Intent to Demolish," of the Code of
Ordinances, City of Baytown, Texas, is hereby amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 33 -22. Notice of Violation.
(a) Whenever the chief building inspector or his designee has
taken all necessary steps prescribed under this chapter and
has not been successful in requiring compliance on structures
that are unfit for human use or habitation or that are
obsolete, dilapidated, or substandard, he shall issue a notice
of the violation to the board, together with the owner of such
structure, lienholder, or mortgagee. Such notice of violation
shall also be sent to all unknown owners, lienholders, or
mortgagees, by posting a copy of the notice on the front door
of each improvement situated on the affected property or as
close to the front door as practicable. The notice shall
provide for a public hearing and must state that the owner,
lienholder, or mortgagee will be required to submit at the
hearing proof of the scope of any work that may be required to
comply with the ordinances of the City and the time it will
take to reasonably perform the work. Such notice shall also
state the name and address of the owner of the affected
property, if that information can be determined from a
reasonable search of the instruments on file in the office of
the county clerk, a legal description of the affected
property, and a description of the hearing. Such notice shall
be mailed and posted on or before the tenth (10th) day before
the date of the hearing before the board. The notice of
hearing may also be filed in the official public records of
real property in the county in which the property is located.
(b) In a public hearing under this section, the owner,
lienholder, or mortgagee has the burden of proof to
demonstrate that the building is in compliance with the
ordinances of the City and /or the scope of any work that may
be required to comply with the ordinances and the time it will
take to reasonably perform the work.
(c) After the public hearing, if a building is found in
violation of standards set out in the ordinances of the City,
the board may issue an order requiring that the building be
vacated, secured, repaired, removed, or demolished by the
owner within a reasonable time and that the occupants be
relocated within a reasonable time by the owner. The order
shall also provide for an additional reasonable time for the
ordered action to be taken by any of the mortgagees or
lienholders in the event the owner fails to timely comply with
the order.
(d) The board shall require the owner, lienholder, or
mortgagee of the building to secure the building from
• unauthorized entry and /or to repair, remove, or demolish the
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. building within thirty (30) days, unless the owner,
lienholder, or mortgagee establishes at the hearing that the
work cannot reasonably be performed within such time frame.
If the board allows the owner, lienholder, or mortgagee more
than thirty (30) days to repair, remove, or demolish the
building, the board shall establish specific time schedules
for the commencement and performance of the work and shall
require the owner, lienholder, or mortgagee to secure the
property in a reasonable manner from unauthorized entry while
the work is being performed. The board shall not allow more
than ninety (90) days to repair, remove, or demolish the
building or fully perform all work required to comply with the
order, unless the owner, lienholder, or mortgagee submits a
detailed plan and time schedule for the work at the hearing
and establishes at the hearing that the work cannot reasonably
be completed within ninety (90) days because of the scope and
complexity of the work. Further, if the board allows more
than ninety (90) days to complete any part of the required
work, the board shall require the owner, lienholder, or
mortgagee to regularly submit progress reports to the chief
building inspector or his designee to demonstrate that the
work is being performed in compliance with the established
time schedules for the commencement and performance of the
required work. The order may require that the owner,
lienholder, or mortgagee appear before the board or the
board's designee to demonstrate compliance with the time
schedules.
(e) After the hearing the chief building inspector or his
designee shall promptly mail, by certified mail, return
receipt requested, a copy of the order to the owner of the
building, and if the owner does not take the ordered action
within the allotted time, the chief building inspector or his
designee shall promptly mail, by certified mail, return
receipt requested, a copy of the order to any lienholder or
mortgagee of the building. No notice to the mortgagee or
lienholder, other than a copy of the order in the event the
owner fails to timely take the ordered action, shall be
required.
(f) Within ten (10) days after the order is issued by the
board, the chief building inspector or his designee shall file
a copy of the order in the office of the city clerk and
publish in a newspaper of general circulation in the
municipality a notice containing the street address or legal
description of the property, the date of the hearing, a brief
statement indicating the results of the order, and
instructions stating where a complete copy of the order may be
obtained.
(g) If the building is not vacated, secured, repaired,
removed, or demolished, or the occupants are not relocated
. within the allotted time, the chief building inspector or his
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• designee, after advertising for bids (if required), may
vacate, secure, remove, or demolish the building, or relocate
the occupants.
•
Section 4: That Chapter 33 "Urban Rehabilitation Standards,"
Article III "Urban Rehabilitation Standards Review Board," Section
33 -23 "Notice of Hearing," of the Code of Ordinances, City of
Baytown, Texas, is hereby amended to read as follows:
Sec. 33 -23. Notice of Appeal.
The board shall hold a public hearing on all appeals made
to it, and written notice of such public hearing shall be sent
by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the applicant,
the record owners of the affected property, each holder of a
recorded lien against the affected property, as shown by the
records in the office of the county clerk of the county in
which the property is located if the address of the lienholder
can be ascertained from the applicable instruments on file in
such office, and all unknown owners, by posting a copy of the
notice on the front door of each improvement situated on the
affected property or as close to the front door as
practicable. Such notice shall be given not less than ten
(10) days before the date set for hearing. Notice shall also
be given by publishing the same in a newspaper of general
circulation in the city on one occasion at least ten (10) days
prior to the date set for the hearing. The notice required
herein shall state the date, time, and place of such hearings.
Section 5: All ordinances or parts of ordinances inconsistent
with the terms of this ordinance are hereby repealed; provided
however, that such repeal shall be only to the extent of such
inconsistency and in all other respects this ordinance shall be
cumulative of other ordinances regulating and governing the subject
matter covered by this ordinance.
Section 6: If any provisions, section, exception, subsection,
paragraph, sentence, clause or phrase of this ordinance or the
application of same to any person or set of circumstances, shall
for any reason be held unconstitutional, void or invalid, such
invalidity shall not affect the validity of the remaining
provisions of this ordinance or their application to other persons
or sets of circumstances and to this end all provisions of this
ordinance are declared to be severable.
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INTRODUCED, READ and PASSED by the affirmative vote of the
City Council of the City of Baytown, this the 11th day of August,
1994.
'�� tl.
PETE C. ALFXRO, Mayor
EILEEN P. HALL, d-Cf ty Wl&rk
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
ACIO RAMIRE2 R., City Attorney
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