WILLMAR -- City staff is working on ordinance amendments that reflect recommendations by the Mayor's Housing Task Force to tighten exterior maintenance standards. But the process of preparing the amendments is taking longer than anticipated.
The process has taken longer than anticipated partly because of work load and partly because complaints about deteriorating housing conditions have tailed off over the summer months, according to Bruce Peterson, director of planning and development services for the city of Willmar.
Peterson anticipates ordinance amendments will be ready for City Council consideration this fall and the amendments adopted and in place by the end of fall.
Peterson reported on the pace of the ordinance preparation during a Thursday afternoon meeting of the City Council's Community Development Committee.
The Housing Task Force was appointed by the council last year and spent about four months studying housing and zoning ordinances. The task force was appointed after citizens complained that housing conditions were deteriorating in some neighborhoods.
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The task force reported its recommendations to the council last November, saying exterior maintenance standards and exterior storage and off-street parking regulations for residential areas should be tightened.
The council directed city staff to prepare zoning ordinance amendments reflecting those recommendations for the council to consider.
Peterson said complaints about deteriorating housing conditions and vehicle parking violations are down this year. "The word is on the street,'' Peterson said, referring to efforts to crack down on unkempt properties. He said one complaint was received this year about exterior conditions and the problem was solved with a phone call.
"It took us a long time to get organized to the point where we could even bring together a task force to discuss these issues and now it's important that we give due deliberation to the process of taking those task force findings and recommendations and carefully writing the ordinance amendments that will allow the city to be more effective in its enforcement,'' Peterson said.
In other business, the committee asked that Dorothy Gaffaney, executive director of the Willmar Housing and Redevelopment Authority, attend the next committee meeting to discuss coordinative efforts by the city and HRA to develop affordable housing.
A report on the Community Development Committee's meeting will be given to the Willmar City Council at 7 p.m. on Monday in the chambers of the Municipal Utilities Building, 700 Litchfield Ave. S.W.
The council will also receive reports from the Public Works/Safety Committee and the Finance Committee
The council will honor long-time Willmar police officer Rick Kleinschmidt who is retiring, and the council will take comments from the public during the open forum.
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In other business, the council will introduce an ordinance amending the conditional use permit findings of fact; consider the final plat of Terraplane Estates; consider unpaid weed and grass mowing; and reschedule the date for the first meeting in September (due to the Labor Day holiday).
