By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Bowling Green City Council has adopted the first step toward regulating rental housing in the city.
Last week, council voted to approve an ordinance requiring owners of rental housing to register their properties with the city. This is the first – and least controversial – of three ordinances regarding rental housing to come before City Council.
The next two ordinances involve inspections of rental units, and checklists that the housing should pass.
Efforts to regulate rental housing in Bowling Green have been discussed for decades. Attempts to make two amendments to the ordinance last week failed.
Council member Jeff Dennis proposed an amendment to include a $25 fee per rental unit to the registration ordinance.
But council member John Zanfardino, who heads the Community Improvement Committee that has been working on the rental housing issue, said adding to a fee for rental registrations goes beyond what the committee was asked to do.
“We’ve been asked to not have any fee attached,” Zanfardino said.
Council member Bill Herald proposed an amendment to expand the list of exempted properties so it matched the exempted list in the inspection ordinance.
Council member Sandy Rowland objected, saying she did not like “last-minute” amendments being attached to ordinances.
Dennis had previously proposed the registration fee as a way for the city to hire one inspector for rental properties.
“After more than 40 years of debate we’ve managed to take a small step forward tonight,” Dennis said after the meeting.
“That said, it’s notable that the program passed this evening is completely free to the landlord. While Kent, Oxford, Athens, Sandusky, and Rossford all charge an annual fee ranging from $50 to $150 per unit, we apparently feel that’s simply not possible here in Bowling Green,” Dennis said. “Instead, we’ll be administering this additional bureaucracy at the expense of the Bowling Green taxpayer and forgoing any opportunity to reinvest in our housing and sidewalks.”
“At a time when we’re seeing $54 million in lost property value in our older neighborhoods I’m not sure why we’re exempting rental businesses, even if it’s just the cost of running the program,” Dennis said.
In other business at last week’s council meeting:
- Parks and Recreation Director Kristin Otley said efforts are underway to offer the usual summer programs of day camps and safety town, plus open the pool. “Summer is back,” she said. “We are really, really looking forward to an almost normal summer.”
- Bowling Green City Schools Superintendent Francis Scruci and Conneaut Principal Alyssa Karaffa thanked Mayor Mike Aspacher, Otley and other city officials for helping change the traffic pattern for student drop-offs and pick-ups at the elementary. By creating an entrance from City Park, the average pickup time has been cut from 25 to 11 minutes, Karaffa said.
