Follow-through will be essential for the City of Gladewater’s updated vacant building ordinance to have an impact.
“That will be picked up under policies and procedures for staff,” Mayor Brandy Flanagan noted, and execution of the new ordinance will be in conjunction with the courts along with enforcement of related fees.
After months of review and revisions, council members adopted the refined regulations following a brief discussion last week.
“We used to have a vacant building ordinance. It was no longer applicable because we no longer have a Main Street District,” Flanagan reminded the council members along with the audience in Gladewater City Hall Nov. 21. The refreshed rules will apply throughout the Gladewater City Limits: “We looked at other state codes and ordinances regarding this matter to see what the state suggested, to see what other cities were doing.”
The committee behind the updated requirements for commercial buildings included a local developer as well as a realtor, an economic development corporation representative, council members and city employees.
“This particular ordinance took a lot of work, and I want to thank all of those who were involved in that,” council member Teddy Sorrells said. “They had to do a lot of research,” and he did his own as well: “We had a number of citizens in our community who had voiced some concerns about it. This is a good ordinance. It meets all of our desires as to why we need a vacant building ordinance: to reduce crime, promote economic development, all those things we talk about wanting to see in Gladewater.”
Once the bulk of the committee’s work was complete, the ordinance went under final consideration by the city’s attorney.
“He reviewed everything as well and got us the final ordinance in front of you,” Flanagan said. “I want to thank the committee. This was a big ordeal to take on. Everybody worked seamlessly together and really tried to make this ordinance that is business-friendly and that draws the correct people wanting to do business the right way to Gladewater.”
The updated ordinance factors in registration of vacant commercial buildings, insurance requirements, maintenance plans and more. Find the original and updated details online via tinyurl.com/GladewaterVacantBuildings.
The finalized ordinance is awaiting visitors at CityofGladewater.com, Flanagan noted, and readily available in hard-copy: “Anytime you need a copy of something, feel free to reach out to someone at the city.”
Ordinances such as this one can be very contentious, Gladewater Fire Chief Mike Simmons said, but the update-process went relatively smoothly for everyone’s sake.
“We looked at it from all sides of the fences,” he added, particularly how it will affect homeowners, existing business owners and new entrepreneurs along with building owners.
Council member Michael Weber’s motion to approve the ordinance, seconded by Sorrells, was unanimously-approved.
“If you’re familiar with the older vacancy ordinances on the books, please take the time to pull this one up and read it,” councilman Kevin Clark. “It is a much, much cleaner, user-friendly document.”
- By James Draper