Published: October 21, 2008 11:12 pm         

Proposal gets cold shoulder from some local realtors, landlords

A “toe-in-the-water” proposal by Enid’s city manager Tuesday to establish what he called livability standards for rental housing was met with sharp concern by some local realtors.

City Manager Eric Ben-son said Enid lags the nation and state in establishing an ordinance setting livability standards. He told Enid City Commission during its Tuesday study session a list of property with the most revenue losses from people leaving without paying rent, and those with code violations, showed a 70 percent identical rate. A high percentage of police calls also were reported to those residences.

“Ninety percent of them are owned by absentee landlords. Living out of state, out of the area is a common denominator. The local landlords are not the problem,” Benson said.

He proposed establishing standards for inspections to determine if homes are decent enough for occupancy. He said they do not intend to inspect every home in town and they are not talking about wiring, but residences that meet livable conditions.

“If someone moves into a house that is infested with vermin, that’s unacceptable,” he said.

The city can start with new accounts in Enid. Inspections would be done during the period between tenants. Benson said one landlord said the condition of rental property is not the city’s business, but he disagreed.

“If you run a rat-infested slum that can’t carry an electricity load, that is our business,” he said.

Benson said landlords must be willing to provide a level of livable expectation, and he volunteered to meet with local realtors to work out the conditions for the ordinance. A proposed ordinance based on a Del City requirement was passed out, but Benson warned it is only good until it is changed.

Ward 3 commissioner Larry Dillon said such an ordinance is critical to the community. Acknowledging the city trend toward cleaning up residences in town, he said if the commission wants a clean city they cannot afford to have shanties and shacks.

Dillon said there are people in his district who live in homes utility companies will not serve because it would be dangerous. Ward 4 Commis-sioner Loyd Kaufman said some of the homes also are owner-occupied.

Ward 1 Commissioner James Crabbs said his home is heated with propane, but the tank is outside, away from the house, which is safer than people buying propane tanks to take inside their homes for heat.

Fire Marshal Ken Helms said a number of fires are caused by propane tanks inside homes. Those houses were unable to be served by ONG because they could not carry the load necessary to warm the home.

Mayor John Criner polled the commissioners to determine if there is sufficient interest to continue discussion of such an ordinance and found commissioners willing. Repre-sentatives of Del City will meet with commissioners to discuss the problems and reasoning behind their ordinance and the city will meet with realtors and rental property owners to work out a potential ordinance, before holding a public hearing on it.

Benson said he was concerned only with life safety issues and wanted a measured approach.

“We want a methodology to enforce the ordinances we already have,” said Ward 5 Commissioner Daron Rudy. “This is for a basic safety level, not a nice issue and we want to include landlords in the discussion.”

After the study session, Jim Henderson, owner of Enid Property Management, which rents more than 400 residences, said he has concerns about the temporary ordinance.

“The initial proposal is impractical. There is no way to administer it and it’s a pretty heavy violation of private property rights,” he said.

Henderson said the ordinance could have the impact of increasing rent in Enid. He also said there is no responsibility on tenants; it is all on owners

During the city commission meeting later, Benson introduced Dan Ohnesorge, the airport administrator and director of airport economic development. Ohnesorge, a retired Vance Air Force Base officer, started his city job Monday.