<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3uFHEG_19NpNeOv00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3uFHEG_19NpNeOv00" width="1200" height="600" >PRESQUE ISLE, Maine (WAGM) - Last night, the Presque Isle City Council met to discuss a revised draft of the city’s proposed vacant building ordinance. At last night’s city council meeting, Presque Isle City Manager Sonja Eyler presented a revised draft of the vacant building ordinance. She said the second draft makes major changes, including separating fees from the initial permit and triggering them only after repeated safety or maintenance issues. The draft also tightens the definition of vacancy and outlines clearer notice, appeal, and enforcement steps. Afterward, councilors heard concerns from residents.Eric Cassidy, a concerned citizen said: “The 1st step in real estate development is acquiring property, and a lot of times properties are acquired when they’re distressed because that’s when they can be acquired affordably. And so, that timeline doesn’t necessarily match the developer’s timeline for immediately going to renovate.”Scott Wilson, another concerned citizen added: “I don’t understand why you guys want to do this. We’re already paying taxes on the properties. If you start penalizing these people and everything you know what you’re gonna see? a whole bunch of empty lots. People aren’t gonna want to build nothing here. You guys are telling us what we can do, and we can’t do on our properties. If this does go through where is the money going?”Michael Chasse, City Councilor responded: “If a house is unsecured and there’s rodents, or there’s multiple break ins, and the police department has to go there time and time again. That’s what the fines are to cover. It’s also to cover the cost of the public safety and the work that goes into addressing it.”After hearing from the community, some city officials raised their own concerns. City Councilor Craig Green said: “We can’t have 1 person’s home, property, or whatever it may be, hold the other people in the neighborhood hostage for a situation that just gets worse and declines the value of homes around it. Which we have seen, and we’ve had people sitting here in the last year several times saying, “Do something about this house. This is an absolute mess.”City Councilor Douglas Cyr countered, “Those situations, you know d*** well those have sat on our books for 7, 8,10 years and that’s purely a city screw up.”Green admitted, “Yes it is.”Cyr continued, “So, creating an ordinance because the city has screwed up in the past and didn’t do its job is not gonna fly.”City Manager Sonja Eyler added, “You are right to point out that we over the last few years have not been diligent in following up on code enforcement and now we’re having to scramble and get our code enforcement doing what they need to do.”City Councilor Debra Plummer also spoke on the issue, “Say I owned it, and I was on a low income. I don’t have the money to fix it but then there’s a fine every day that puts me further in the whole. I mean, it’s almost like punishing somebody for not having any money.” City leaders say this is still a working draft, and they expect more changes based on feedback from residents and councilors. The ordinance will be brought back for further discussion on April 1st at the next city council meeting, before a final vote. </div></body>

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PRESQUE ISLE, Maine (WAGM) - Last night, the Presque Isle City Council met to discuss a revised draft of the city’s proposed vacant building ordinance. At last night’s city council meeting, Presque Isle City Manager Sonja Eyler presented a revised draft of the vacant building ordinance. She said the second draft makes major changes, including separating fees from the initial permit and triggering them only after repeated safety or maintenance issues. The draft also tightens the definition of vacancy and outlines clearer notice, appeal, and enforcement steps. Afterward, councilors heard concerns from residents.

Revised Vacant Building Ordinance Draws Input

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PRESQUE ISLE, Maine (WAGM) - Last night, the Presque Isle City Council met to discuss a revised draft of the city’s proposed vacant building ordinance. At 

Revised Vacant Building Ordinance Draws Input

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