title
Ordinance Repealing the Housing and Commercial Building Codes and Adopting the International Property Maintenance Code (B)
ORDINANCE NO. 200247
An ordinance of the City of Gainesville, Florida, related to property maintenance standards for existing residential and non-residential properties; repealing the existing Division 1. titled "General Requirements for Fences and Walls" within Article I of Chapter 13 and renumbering the existing Division 2.; repealing the existing Article II titled "Housing Code" of Chapter 13; repealing the existing Article III titled "Commercial Building Code" of Chapter 13; and creating a new Article II titled "Property Maintenance Code" within Chapter 13 to adopt by reference the International Property Maintenance Code (IPMC) with local revisions; amending Sec. 2-339 titled "Applicable codes and ordinances" within Division 6, Article V of Chapter 2; amending Sec. 2-377 titled "Applicability; jurisdiction" within Division 8, Article V of Chapter 2; providing directions to the codifier; providing a severability clause; providing a repealing clause; and providing effective dates.
recommendation
The City Commission adopt the proposed ordinance.
explanation
One of the recommendations of the Rental Housing Subcommittee was to create a rental housing ordinance that would require an annual permit, inspections and minimum energy efficiency, life safety and property maintenance standards be met with respect to residential rental units within the City (excluding Public Lodging Establishments as defined by and regulated under State law.) During the deliberations of the Rental Housing Subcommittee, staff focused on using certain of the minimum standards from the City's existing Housing Code as the rental unit standards; however, upon new staff and management review, it was determined that a better approach would be to replace the outdated and Gainesville-specific Housing Code and Commercial Building Code with an industry standard code, the "International Property Maintenance Code" (IPMC), with local revisions as the City's new Property Maintenance Code.
This new Property Maintenance Code applies to all existing residential and commercial structures and properties (not just residential rental properties) and will become effective at 12:01am on January 1, 2021. This will allow time for City staff to disseminate educational information about this Code change and encourage voluntary compliance.
fiscal note
Staff anticipates minimal fiscal impact on the General Government budget resulting from adoption of this ordinance.