COMMUNITY HAD TO WRESTLE WITH ENFORCEMENT PROCEDURES

Laws mostly an assortment of convoluted words have little effect on persons' lives. But whether and to what extent those laws are enforced can arouse a myriad of emotions and reactions.

The most consistent criticism leveled at proponents of a property maintenance code for Cape Girardeau has been based on fears of how the measure will be enforced.

Despite assurances by city officials that such a code would be enforced on a complaint basis only, many property owners and developers fear a burgeoning city bureaucracy that would continue to expand its reach into private real estate transactions.

Such fears are warranted, says a prominent realtor in the St. Louis area.

Walter Stradal, president of the St. Louis Realtors Association, has watched such codes evolve in the St. Louis for the past 26 years.

Stradal said enforcement of property maintenance codes are something cities continue to wrestle with.

In University City, for example, the code is enforced through an occupancy permit program that triggers a building inspection with each change of occupancy. That procedure was adopted after efforts at less rigid enforcement failed, Stradal said.

The realtor said that in St. Louis, officials attempted to enforce the law only in some sections of the city. But inspectors were unable to enter properties without a court order.

Also, the practice of selectively inspecting certain sections of the city code was found unconstitutional by the courts. Now in St. Louis, residents of a particular ward must ask, through their alderman, for enforcement of the code in their ward.

That procedure leaves many areas untouched, where the housing stock continues to deteriorate rapidly.

Stradal said that's why University City took the next step and adopted the occupancy permit program.

"There was a flood of out-migration from the city in the late 1960s," he said. "By adopting the occupancy ordinance, the city was able to cross the threshold of the home and make an inspection without a subpoena."

Stradal predicted that a code enforced on only a complaint basis would entangle the city in "personal vendettas."

"I would think they're going to have a mess if they just try to impose this without an occupancy ordinance," he said.

"If they attempt to impose this on the city of Cape Girardeau without an occupancy ordinance, I would think that just on a complaint basis would be unconstitutional."

Stradal favors a minimum property maintenance code, provided it is fairly and effectively enforced.

He said University City went through a period where property values were declining rapidly. Yet the city has made a comeback and survived due to, Stradal says, its occupancy permit program.

But if a property maintenance code isn't properly enforced it could be the "cure that's worse than the disease," he added.

"Properly done, a property code can be the best thing that ever happened; improperly done, it could be the worst," he said. "It's a two-edged sword.

"If the city's going to do it, they better be prepared to fund it with inspectors who know what they're doing."

Most realtors and developers in the St. Louis area agree, Stradal said, that the occupancy permit procedure ensures continued rehabilitation of housing and stimulates maintenance at an appropriate time when money's changing hands in a real estate transaction.

Most of the unincorporated areas of St. Louis County have gone to a similar program, as have most of the city's suburbs.

But as Stradal noted, some municipalities aren't providing adequate funds for effective enforcement.

Code officials in University City also said the permit program can be used to discriminate against low-and moderate-income families or minorities.

This is done by setting the cost of code compliance so high that it makes it difficult for such families to occupy a house they want to buy or rent.

"What happens is they give a lot of power to a person and don't pay him very much," Stradal said. "Enforcement is predicated on whether the city is willing to put up enough money to get really good inspectors who know what they're doing."

Stradal cited an example in St. Louis County where an inspector wouldn't allow a property owner to sell his house because of a minor code infraction that involved a single floor tile. The stressful process was blamed when the property owner suffered a heart attack.

In University City, officials told of one landlord, Delmar Poe, who owned a 70-unit apartment complex that was dilapidated. The city pressured Poe to bring the property up to code.

Numerous court cases and $20,000 in legal bills later, Poe finally submitted and brought the complex into compliance.

"You'll find that in some cities, the enforcement is a little excessive," Stradal said. "If you have a good solid house and it's well maintained, it's just as good as a new house.

"But the code's not flexible. I don't know what the answer is, but there has to be a legitimate and fair appeals process. That's very important."

And even if it's properly enforced, a property maintenance code will still have negative effects, particularly with regard to low-rent, substandard housing.

"There will always be a segment of the population, for whatever reason, that's going to have a low income, and there has to be substandard housing for the impoverished," Stradal said. "This ordinance will force people out of that housing."

He said cities should make some consideration for landlords in low-income areas.

"If they have to put so much money into a unit, they're going to raise rent, and you're going to have people forced to move in with family and homelessness," he added. "To be a landlord in that market is very difficult to deal with.

"How many people want to maintain older properties in areas where the tenants damage the property, don't pay the rent and are nearly impossible to evict.

"The good people who want to do that need some understanding," Stradal said.