By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Bowling Green City Council heard concerns about the proposed rental housing legislation from one landlord and three council members Monday evening.
The legislation addresses registration of all the estimated 7,000 residential rental units in the city, and inspections to make sure the homes are safe for tenants. The ordinance received its first reading by council Monday.
Joan Newlove, of John Newlove Realty, suggested that the city identify the isolated problem rental properties rather than focusing on all the rental housing in the city. That would allow the problem properties to be addressed more quickly and would cut down on costs for the city, she said.
Newlove also questioned the portion of the proposed legislation that covers issues like proper ingress and egress in rental housing. Landlords have limited control over what their tenants do in their rentals.
“People are collectors – to put it nicely,” she said. “It’s difficult” for landlords to tell tenants to clean up their units.
Newlove also questioned the requirement that landlords make repairs immediately.
“I don’t know if any of you have tried to get building materials lately,” she said. “You can’t do it immediately.”
She was critical of the inspection forms, saying, “there’s already a boatload of paperwork coming from registrations.” She said the steps required by the city will add work for landlords and the city.
“A lot of these things you want to do will probably be additional costs to the city,” Newlove said.
Different concerns were expressed by the three City Council members who serve on the Community Improvement Committee which held several public meetings on the rental housing issue.
John Zanfardino said he was glad legislation will be voted on this year. But he’s not happy with the proposed resolution.
“I think it is still very unbalanced,” Zanfardino said. “The draft is very balanced for one stakeholder.”
“It doesn’t really recognize the urgency of the rental housing situation in Bowling Green,” he said, noting that a consultant warned that the city is on a downward slope with the condition of its rental housing.
“I hope that as we go forward through the readings, we have the sense of urgency and the courage to amend this,” Zanfardino said.
Bill Herald also expressed his displeasure with the proposed ordinance.
“This is not what the Community Improvement Committee came up with,” he said. The committee put more emphasis on an audit procedure, where inspections are conducted by someone other than the landlords.
“We are committed to an audit procedure,” Herald said.
He suggested the city conduct periodic reviews of the implementation of the ordinance.
Jeff Dennis thanked Joan Newlove for voicing her concerns, and said he would like to see the city address the issues she raised about the legislation.
According to Dennis, 67% of the residents in Ohio live in communities that already have rental housing ordinances.
“We have neglected the issues for 40 years,” he said.
Dennis referred to Bowling Green’s draft legislation as tepid, saying if the proposed ordinance is approved, City Council would be “codifying what landlords already do everywhere” – self-inspections of their properties.
In other business at Monday’s meeting:
- City Attorney Mike Marsh conducted the swearing in ceremony for Police Lt. Adam Skaff.
- Council voted unanimously to vacate a portion of Oak Street in between the new city building and Wood County District Public Library. The plan is to turn the area into green space between the buildings.
- Municipal Administrator Lori Tretter announced the city had hired Martha Woelke to fill the position of community development administrator. Woelke has years of experience in banking and is a “long-engaged member of our community,” Tretter said.
- Heard from Public Services Director Joe Fawcett that a record number of 769 properties signed up for brush pickup this fall.
