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Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell is proposing a new ordinance meant to improve security and management of vacant buildings in the city.
According to Harrell's office, the number of complaints about vacant buildings in the city with safety or maintenance violations increased 25%, from 556 in 2021 to 694 in 2022. The Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections has recorded an uptick in enforcement of violations at vacant buildings over the last few years. In 2021, 284 cases were reported. That number increased to 345 in 2022.
Assuming that trend continues, city officials expect violation cases to exceed last year's total.
Harrell’s proposal calls for strengthening the standards for securing vacant buildings by requiring them to have solid core doors, reinforced deadbolts, and in some cases polycarbonate sheets instead of plywood.
The legislation would also require vacant buildings to be kept free of graffiti, mandate that any building that receives a violation notice to enter the vacant building monitoring program, simplify the process for police and fire referrals to vacant building monitoring, and authorize the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections to file a property lien to collect unpaid vacant building monitoring fees and abatement costs.
“While we want to encourage new development and adaptive reuse of vacant buildings so that they do not fall derelict in the first place, these stronger standards will help us ensure that buildings left unoccupied are secured and maintained, along with efficiently inspected and monitored by the city so that they do not pose any dangers or hazards to neighbors and first responders,” Harrell said in a news release announcing the proposed legislation.
The latest proposal from Harrell coincides with the Seattle 2035 Comprehensive Plan’s intent to utilize vacant or underdeveloped land for housing or mix-used development.
Vacant buildings also create health and safety risks. According to the Seattle Fire Department, there have been 29 fires in vacant buildings so far this year, compared to 19 over the same time period in 2022. There have been three deaths this year involving vacant building fires.
“Fires in vacant buildings can present some of the most dangerous conditions for responding firefighters,” Seattle Fire Chief Harold Scoggins said. “We welcome the mayor’s efforts to strengthen requirements that may prevent fires in vacant structures and provide a quicker path towards demolition or refurbishment.”