During a meeting held on Thursday, October 3, Economic Development Department Director Arturo Marquez presented council with a proposed ordinance that will basically encourage economic development into the downtown area and hopefully find a comprehensive solution to a longtime problem of unoccupied buildings in the area.
“One of the issues of having empty buildings is that it decreases property values, it represents disinvestment, lower the quality of life in place, and increases the health and safety risks," said Marquez. "We want to re-activate business activity and maximize building utility.
Improve and create a safe environment that people enjoy visiting.
We also want to increase accountability for CBD property owners.”
Marquez added that the ordinance amendment would entail community outreach and advocacy, enforcement and also set up business incentives for those building owners.
Marquez added that the ordinance would structure certain guidelines the city and business owners are to follow, including the registration of vacant buildings which would have to follow guidelines specified within the proposed ordinance, including a fee.
This would basically encourage building owners to come to the table and work together with the City to be more pro-active and even begin to be more accountable for some of these deteriorating buildings.
"We have looked into the downtown area and have identified approximately 40 commercial vacant buildings which represents about 14% of the structures in downtown, which is pretty high. These are buildings that could be generating commerce, attracting new tourist and impacting the quality of place in Eagle Pass.” added Marquez.
“For the revitalization of downtown to be successful the City must fully enforce monetary penalties to municipal code violations.
Property owners who wish to remain vacant must work with the City to modify the buildings to a standard that does not negatively affect surrounding business owners. Property, owners in the downtown area that are labeled occupied will not be affected by this ordinance.” Marquez stated that there are certain specifications of what is deemed occupied, which are defined in the ordinance.
Registration fees for those buildings that fall within the scope of the ordinance amendment are: commercial properties $750, single family residential structures $250 a year. Late registration (beyond 60 days) will incur a $150 dollar fine.
Mayor Cantu added that the amendment is to stimulate occupancy and development into the downtown area, and hold some owners accountable on buildings
that they have not done anything to which ultimately negatively affect everyone else who has and is interested in bringing the area back to life.
The ordinance was approved and will be brought back to be read two more times before final approval.