The City of Three Rivers has joined the list of communities using the International Property Maintenance Code (IPMC).
In action Tuesday evening (February 21st), the Three Rivers City Commission adopted an ordinance that will allow the Zoning Administrator/Building Inspector to use the code to – in the words of a staff report on the subject – “fairly enforce the same standards for Commercial/Industrial properties which are now enforceable for residential housing and rental housing.”
Adoption of the ordinance came after the third public hearing on the matter, a procedure in which there were no citizen comments.
Regarding proposed adoption of the ordinance, Commissioner-at-Large Daryl Grittith said, “It’s a long time coming.”
Mayor Tom Lowry said, “I’ll just say for the record that I feel comfortable approving this because it truly is a set of minimum standards. It really speaks to the exterior of these non-residential properties only, things that are really just readily apparent.” (Tom Lowry audio clip – :46)
First District Commissioner Judy Gilchrist said, “I just think it shows that each and every one of us care about our city to be a good place for everybody to live in, a clean place.”
As a follow-up to a question posed during the February 7th city commission meeting, Lowry shared information about other area communities that are using the IPMC. Municipalities on the list provided by Zoning Administrator/Building Inspector Glenn Lindsey of Cornerstone Inspections Svcs LLC are: City of Albion, Village of Athens, Township of Burr Oak, Village of Centreville, Township of Colon, Village of Homer, City of Marshall, and Village of Tekonsha .
The code has been available for public viewing from the city’s website, the Three Rivers Public Library, and at City Hall. To view the code section by section, click on the following link: http://publicecodes.citation.com/icod/ipmc/2009/index.htm?bu2=undefined
