Bethel wants to charge owners who let buildings sit empty and rot

Bethel is moving to crack down on the empty, deteriorating buildings around town, and its main tool would be the wallet.

Under a draft ordinance, anyone who owns a vacant building would have to register it and pay a fee that climbs every year it stays empty — $100 the first year, rising past $1,000 by the fourth — with unpaid fees becoming a lien. Owners would also have to keep the buildings secured and safe, and the city's planning director could order a hazard fixed within 15 days, without a council hearing.

The city says its current nuisance code is too weak to handle derelict properties, and its tracking list runs to dozens of addresses. In a region where housing is scarce and costly, a building left to rot is both a hazard and a waste, and the city wants leverage to make owners maintain it, use it, or clear it.

The hardest cases are the burnt ones. "I have concerns about the burnt down properties," commission member Rose Henderson said in May. For those, the commission will weigh a demolition program with a twist: the city pays to tear a structure down, then waives the cost if the owner commits in writing to rebuilding — or files a lien to recover the money if they don't. Owners must show financial hardship, and funding hinges on the budget.

The Planning Commission takes up both drafts July 9, as recommendations, not a final vote.