WATERVILLE — The city is considering adopting a vacant buildings ordinance and a separate rental registration ordinance as part of ongoing efforts to identify unsafe buildings and ensure occupied rentals are safe and landlords are accessible if issues arise.

The proposed vacant buildings ordinance addresses buildings that may have broken windows, roofs that are falling in or other features that could be dangerous.

City Council Chair Rebecca Green, D-Ward 4, said there are almost 80 vacant buildings in Waterville, and officials want to be able to monitor them, contact owners quickly and have code enforcement officers respond to protect people’s health and safety.

Exemptions would include vacant buildings in the process of being demolished, those being rehabilitated or that are damaged from fire or weather, seasonal residences, those owned by active-duty members of the military or for sale by owner or a Maine real estate agent, Green said at a council meeting Tuesday.

“We’re really looking at the buildings that are truly vacant with no plan for occupancy or rehabilitation,” she said.

The city is honing the language of the ordinance, which would require owners of buildings to obtain permits that would include their names and emergency contact information, a statement of intent and a statement giving the city access to a building, with notice. A permit fee would be required.

Green said the city is trying to prevent situations where buildings are deteriorating to the point they are a public nuisance or must be torn down at city expense.

The City Council has taken one vote to approve such an ordinance, and is expected to take a second, final vote in the coming weeks.

Rental property owner and resident Diane Weinstein said she has been through some blighted, unsafe buildings that are for sale in Waterville, and people are living in them. Some have roofs that are falling apart, open plumbing and evidence of black mold, she said.

“I find it very worrisome that we have people that must live in those apartments,” Weinstein said, adding she has respect for apartment owners, too, but such conditions are “unfathomable in 2022.”

The city’s housing committee, of which Green is chair, worked on the proposed ordinance, with input from city code enforcement officials and the Planning Board. Councilors voted 5-0 on Tuesday to table further discussion until their next meeting, scheduled for Nov. 1, when they could also take a final vote.

The council also discussed a proposed rental registration ordinance that the housing committee has discussed with people from the Central Maine Apartment Owners Association and others. There would be no registration fee, Green said.

The ordinance would require property owners to register their rental buildings with the city and include contact information, including telephone numbers for those responsible for building maintenance, according to Green.

Information about the number and type of dwelling units, year of building construction and status of lead paint in the buildings would also be required, she said.

The registry also would require information on whether a building has a sprinkler system and require a completed safety check list.

Green said the registry is based on one in Lewiston that has been in operation for about 18 months. About 40% of Waterville’s housing was built before 1939, she said.

Daniel Bernier, a lawyer who represents Central Maine Apartment Owners Association, told councilors some language in the proposal is concerning, and he questioned what a registry would achieve that the code enforcement office could not.

Bernier also said contact information for building owners is beneficial but already contained in city tax records. He said he agrees having telephone numbers is useful, but the registry could result in unintended consequences, such as driving people out of the city. He also said federal regulations are already in place concerning lead paint in buildings.

“What is the city going to add that the federal government’s not already doing on lead paint?” Bernier said.

Green said the city only seeks to know if lead paint has been remediated in a building.

The registry would also help code enforcement officials reach landlords in an emergency, which now can be cumbersome.

“There’s only a penalty for failing to register, and that will come with many reminders,” Green said. “This is not something we’re trying to do to penalize people. We’re just trying to get compliance.”

Mayor Jay Coelho, a landlord himself, said the registry is meant to have landlords partner with the city, and if there are problems, the city wants to be able to contact them.

“Let’s work as a team,” he said. “We’re not adversaries. We want the same goal.”

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