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1991-20 Establishing a Zoning Enforcement Procedure.Introduced by: Mayor Selby Recommended by: Planning & Zoning Commission Introduced: 06/20/91 Adopted: 06/20/91 KODIAK ISLAND BOROUGH RESOLUTION NO. 91-20 A RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING A ZONING ENFORCEMENT PROCEDURE WHEREAS, Chapter 29.40 of the Alaska Statutes establishes the authority for planning and describes municipal planning powers in Alaska; and requires that first and second class boroughs provide for planning, platting and land use regulation on an areawide basis in accordance with a comprehensive plan; and WHEREAS, one of the most important tools for implementing the Kodiak Island Borough's comprehensive plan is Title 17 Zoning, of the Borough Code; and WHEREAS, an important aspect of implementing the Borough's zoning regulations is zoning enforcement; and WHEREAS, the Kodiak Island Borough Assembly adopted Resolution No. 90-26 in April of 1990 which established a Zoning Enforcement Policy; and WHEREAS, the Kodiak Island Borough Planning and Zoning Commission has recommended that the Kodiak Island Borough Assembly adopt the Zoning Enforcement Procedure, dated January 1991, to implement the Zoning Enforcement Policy; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE KODIAK ISLAND BOROUGH ASSEMBLY that the Zoning Enforcement Procedure for the Kodiak Island Borough is as follows: KODIAK ISLAND BOROUGH ZONING ENFORCEMENT PROCEDURES January 1991 1. ACCEPT THE COMPLAINT A. Determine if the complaint involves a land use violation. (If not, refer the complainant to the Building Official, Department of Environmental Conservation, Corps of Engineers, or other appropriate agency.) Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska Resolution No. 91-20 Page 1 of 5 B. Review the Borough Code. If there appears to be a land use violation, assist the complainant in filling out a violation complaint form. Signed complaint forms receive priority. C. If the complainant declines to fill out a violation complaint form, staff should fill out the form as completely as possible from the information provided by the complainant. Signed complaints and alleged violations brought up at public meetings or resulting from Planning and Zoning Commission cases receive priority. Unsigned complaints or complaints received anonymously by telephone are pursued on a time available basis. D. Each violation complaint should be noted in the violation database and the current status of the violation kept up to date. Complaints that are determined to be invalid or are referred to another agency should also be entered into the database with the appropriate determination. 2. INVESTIGATE THE COMPLAINT A. Check the department property files to see if there have been previous complaints or building activity on the property that are relevant to the current complaint. B. Check Assessing Department and Building Department files to see if they contain information, permits, photos, or other data relevant to the complaint. C. Make an on-site inspection to become familiar with the conditions on the property, documenting with photos the alleged violations and making personal contact, if possible, with the property owner and/or violator to explain the complaint and violation. D. If the violation is determined to be valid, reopen the violation file for the property in question if one exists, or set up a violation (red -label) file if one doesn't already exist. If the complaint is not valid and no zoning violation exists, or if it is ultimately referred to another agency, place a memo to this effect in the general (green -label) property file. 3. ENFORCEMENT ACTION A. Contact the Property Owner: Personal contact (telephone/on-site) should be made with the violator and/or property owner within seven (7) calendar days of receiving the complaint, explaining the violation (specifying code section) and indicating how and when it should be corrected. A letter will be sent to the property owner, and/or any violator, within seven (7) calendar days of contact. The seriousness of the violation and whether or not personal contact has been made will dictate whether this letter is sent Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska Resolution No. 91-20 Page 2 of 5 certified mail. Any violation, regardless of the degree of seriousness, in which personal contact with the violator or property owner is not made after three (3) documented attempts within seven calendar days will result in an administrative decision sent by certified mail to the property owner. 1. If a violation is potentially hazardous and presents an immediate threat to health and welfare, a stop -work order will be issued and hand -delivered on site to whomever is engaged in the activity. A court injunction will be sought to ensure that the activity is not continued until the health threat is resolved and the zoning violation abated. A copy of the stop -work order will be mailed certified to the property owner, if different from the person to whom the order was hand delivered on site. 2. If the violation is "non -serious" in nature (i.e. signs, small amounts of fishing gear, mobile illegal dwelling, non -permitted home occupations) and just beginning, as opposed to established and getting worse, and personal contact has been made, a non -certified warning letter will be sent setting a fifteen (15) calendar day deadline for abatement. This letter will state that failure to meet the deadline will result in a final administrative decision and further enforcement action. A site inspection will be conducted to verify compliance with the deadline. 3. If the violation is serious and established, personal contact will be followed with a certified letter setting a compliance deadline by administrative decision. B. Administrative decisions: Administrative decisions will generally establish a thirty (30) calendar day compliance deadline. For more entrenched, longstanding violations requiring major structural alteration, large-scale clean-up, or displacement of occupants, a sixty (60) calendar day --or longer --deadline will generally be established, at staff's discretion. The administrative decision will also indicate that the decision is final unless appealed to the Planning and Zoning Commission within ten (10) days of receipt of the letter, list the penalties specified by Code for failure to appeal or comply, and state that further enforcement will be in the form of legal action. Copies of the letter will go to the file, complainant, violator and/or property owner, Planning and Zoning Commission, Borough Attorney, appropriate lending institution and other departments as relevant. C. Appeals: An appeal of an administrative decision to the Planning and Zoning Commission is valid only if filed in writing with the Community Development Department within ten (10) days of receipt of the certified letter giving notice of the administrative decision. When an enforcement Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska Resolution No. 91-20 Page 3 of 5 case is appealed to the Planning and Zoning Commission, a new P & Z case file is created. An appeal stays any administrative decision until the Commission either affirms or reverses the decision in whole or in part. If the administrative decision is affirmed and no relief is granted, the original time period setting a compliance deadline is reestablished. Therefore, if a 30 -day deadline was originally established to abate the zoning violation, the 30 -day clock starts ticking on the date of the Planning and Zoning Commission's affirmation of the administrative decision, unless some other deadline is established by the Commission. A site inspection will be scheduled to verify compliance with any deadline. Should the Commission's affirmation or reversal be further appealed to the City Council or Borough Assembly, this same guideline will apply. Noncompliance by a final deadline will result in an Authorization -To -Seek -Legal -Opinion being filled out and submitted as outlined in 4C. 4. FOLLOW UP A. Inspect the property to ensure that the violation has been abated. If the issue has been resolved and the violation abated, the "case will be closed" with a memo to the file and/or a letter of acknowledgement to the property owner and/or violator, and a copy to the complainant. The file is then returned to the Department's general property files and the compliance date entered into the database. B. If the violation has not been abated but obvious progress has been made and the property owner and/or violator has personally expressed the intention of complying, the deadline may be extended for a time period appropriate to the circumstances (i.e. a fisherman in the Bering Sea). This extension, in most cases, will not exceed 20 calendar days, and should be confirmed by phone or personal contact with the property owner and/or violator and followed up with a note to the file. The intention, here, is to be consistent with the philosophy underlying the Zoning Enforcement Policy of focusing on elimination of the violation, not punishment of the violator. C. If a site inspection on the deadline reveals that the violation continues with no apparent effort made to correct it, and that the property owner and/or violator has chosen to ignore the deadline and the directive to abate the violation, a standard Authorization -To -Seek -Legal -Opinion form will be filled out and submitted for signatures authorizing legal action. D. If, after legal action has been initiated, the property owner and/or violator asks for additional time in order to comply with the administrative decision, the property owner and/or violator may receive one final extension if a "confession of judgment" offering an appropriate schedule to abate the violation is executed. Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska Resolution No. 91-20 Page 4 of 5 PASSED AND APPROVED THIS 20th DAY OF JUNE, 1991. KODIAK ISLAND BOROUGH Boroug _.. �"J Presj ing Offic ATTEST: l✓6�)T7 2u Borough Clerk Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska Resolution No. 91-20 Page 5 of 5