Kent May Require Vacant Property Registration

Kent took a step closer to requiring owners of vacant properties to register those properties with the city — and possibly pay a fee to do so — Wednesday night.

Kent City Council members talked at length about a proposal to start a new registration program for vacant residential and commercial properties across the city.

The goal of the proposed program, Councilman Garret Ferrara said, is to manage, track and ensure accountability for Kent's vacant properties.

Such a program is not official yet, but council asked members of the city's administration to analyze how much it would cost the city to start a vacant property registration program. And council members asked the city administration to explore drafting an ordinance to establish such a program with all the suggestions and concerns voiced in Wednesday's lengthy discussion of the issue.

Council briefly talked about the idea at a past meeting, and Wednesday city administrators brought the issue back to the table after reviewing similar programs in place in the Cleveland area.

Kent Law Director Jim Silver posed several questions to council about how they might want to draft a vacant property registration program, including if they wanted to charge a fee to register vacant properties.

"Those range from $25 a year up to $5,000," Silver said. "Some communities distinguish between those that are kept up and those that are not kept up in registration fees.”

“So we could lower the fee if it’s a well kept vacant property,” Councilwoman Tracy Wallach said.

“Or waive it,” Ferrara said.

Councilman Robin Turner said he would prefer a registration program for commercial properties only and not residential. He said the two properties he receives the most calls about — the former Tops grocery building and the old Kent hotel — are both commercial properties.

Though council didn't cast a deciding vote, they did ask the city administration to further analyze the proposal as it would encompass both commercial and residential properties.

"I think dilapidated homes and the ones that aren’t inhabitable deserve higher fees," Councilman Erik Valenta said. "The ultimate goal of this policy is to eliminate the homes, businesses, what have you that sit un-maintained that are boarded up.

"I’m here to try to find a way to get people to start taking accountability for leaving these buildings vacant and abandoned and leaving them a blight on our community," Valenta said.

It's unclear when the issue will return to council for a possible vote.