City officials discuss ways to mandate upkeep of properties
Marysville City Council spent the second half of a marathon work session talking about the city’s appearance.
The topic was the final priority of the city’s strategic plan to be discussed by council.
“The city’s vision for well-planned neighborhoods and having a vibrant economy must start with the Community Appearance priority,” according to the plan. “There are a number of attributes that contribute to a community’s character and uniqueness and that give it a ‘sense of place’ which collectively comprise the city’s quality of life. Community character affects how the city is perceived and valued by anyone who lives, works, plays or visits Marysville. The city will lead by example in improving the overall appearance of the community by continuing to improve and maintain the city’s thoroughfares, parks and facilities. The city will continue to maintain funding opportunities for residents and businesses such as the Home Improvement Reimbursement and Facade Improvement Programs.”
The priority includes a variety of goals that include enforcement of exterior property maintenance, exploring ways to improve the overall appearance and provide aesthetic improvements, focusing on improving the general appearance of the Uptown district and helping to make it a resident, visitor and business destination, improving the general appearance of the City and helping to make vacant commercial properties a resident, visitor and business destination.
Council member Mark Reams asked about creating a measurement for how residents are keeping their homes. He said the system could be similar to the one used to rate city streets. He said city staff or a committee could drive through the city and rate each property based on how well the property is being maintained.
“When I moved to Marysville, the homes on Fifth Street were beautifully maintained,” Reams commented. “Slowly, year-by-year, this seems to have slipped.”
Officials said there could be metrics to account for things like age and visibility.
Several officials questioned what would be done with the results. Reams said the results could be used to target grants for home improvement. He said the overall scores could be used to grade how well the city is meeting its goal of improving the appearance.
Council member Donald Boerger said the city needs to create a way to “hold property maintenance accountable.”
Boerger said city staff is primarily responding to complaints which means by the time the city intervenes, the appearance of the property is already problematic. He said that by having someone on staff who could rate the properties and speak with property owners, the city could be proactive in dealing with homes that are not being maintained.
Council member Henk Berbee asked if the city appearance is really on the decline.
“Has appearance gone down or have expectations just increased?” Berbee asked.
Boerger advocated for increasing or creating new fees to pay for things like additional trees, public art installations and painting city infrastructure.
Boerger said he would like to increase the fee for Uptown buildings that are not at least 50% occupied.
Public Service Director Jeremy Hoyt said he is looking into how the fee has impacted Uptown occupancy rates. He said there needs to be a balance between motivating property owners to fill their buildings and penalizing struggling business people.
Boerger offered a variety of other suggestions to protect the city’s trees and historic buildings.
City Human Resources Director Brian Dostanko said many were “real darn-fine ideas” though they do not belong as part of council’s strategic plan, but rather as part of the city’s zoning code, budget considerations, committee referral or other mechanism.
City Manager Terry Emery said it can be “frustrating” to hear people say nothing is being done for the Uptown. He cited a number of projects occurring or slated for the Uptown.