The Fort Wayne City Council unanimously passed tighter rules on “chronic problem properties” on Tuesday. Those are properties where illegal activity occurs on a regular basis.
The ordinance renews and enhances rules passed by the council in 2017. That ordinance had a sunset clause and expired in 2020. Those rules called for the chronic problem designation after 12 incidents in 90 days.
With Tuesday’s passage, if a commercial business property is the subject of five calls to law enforcement or emergency services in 60 days, the property is labeled a chronic problem commercial property. Once that happens, the property owner must enter into a program with the compliance officer to get off the list or is fined $250 per occurrence.
If the property goes 365 consecutive days without a valid call or the property owner completes their agreed upon program with the compliance officer, the city lifts the designation.
The ordinance said chronic problem properties “have adverse effects on health, safety, welfare and quality of life of residents of the City of Fort Wayne.”
The measure passed seven to zero with council members Tom Freistroffer and Nathan Hartman absent.
