City may discuss new empty building approach

You’ve no doubt noticed them: all the empty commercial buildings in Grand Coulee. Or maybe you’re so used to them you no longer notice.

Either way, the city council is talking about a new approach to dealing with the problem of blighted properties — empty buildings that don’t get used but just deteriorate.

“I know this could be controversial. I know it could upset some people,” said Councilmember Tom Poplawski. “But on the other hand, I think we need to get it out there and talk about it, because our city has a whole lot of vacant business buildings.”

Poplawski said a lot of cities are thinking about what the city of Blaine calls a “vacancy ordinance.” That city looked into it and passed one. Information on it was included the council’s packet for their March 18 meeting.

Poplawski said the concept is to encourage owners to either keep up their property and use it or get someone else to use it to avoid what becomes a blight of abandonment and discourages other businesses from opening up and serving the population.

A 2020 report to the Blaine city council cites a 2006 U.S. Conference of Mayors report that lists some “best practices” for addressing downtown vacancies, including registration fee programs.

That’s what interested Poplawski, who asked the council at their March 18 meeting to read over the report for a later discussion. The concept starts with setting requirements and initially low but gradually increasing fines for non-compliant owners.