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Project Overview

On Aug. 8, 2024 City Council approved an update to the city’s public nuisance ordinance to redefine public nuisance and create a chronic nuisance designation. This project is part of a larger effort to strengthen living conditions for all Boulder community members, better define the rights and responsibilities of property owners, create stronger neighborhoods and uphold public safety.

The approved ordinance goes into effect on Sept. 7, 2024. The new chronic nuisance designation will apply to property owners (owner-occupied and rental) who are repeatedly unresponsive to correcting repeated violations, and who meet the thresholds in the ordinance. The city anticipates that 2 percent or less of properties citywide will fall into this category. A one-year moratorium on enforcement against 100 percent permanently supportive housing was adopted by council for further evaluation about how the ordinance will likely impact those and future such developments within the city. Council also adopted language changes to emphasize the value of notification of property managers, when possible, that public or chronic nuisance violations occur at a rental property.

The goal of this ordinance is to create a more equitable, consistent and defined process to address properties with repetitive code violations in the areas of public safety, building safety and fire and code enforcement.

About the Updates

The last five years of data has been studied to understand nuisance violations trends throughout the city. Additionally, a comparison of other cities was completed.

The ordinance includes as many options as possible to allow remedies for both public nuisances and chronic nuisance properties, based on the nature of the violation(s). Remedies include:

  • Education
  • Inspections
  • Installation of property safety features
  • Abatement Plans
  • Restorative justice, when possible and appropriate
  • Fines
  • Rental license reduced term license or revocation, when appropriate

Additionally, the settlement process has been simplified to address the violation in a timely manner, with new requirements that the property owner, or their designee, work with the city directly to create a plan to address the nuisance(s).

Restorative justice, when possible and appropriate, will be provided early, for individual violations. Alternative processes including substance abuse treatment, mental health treatment and other community resources may also be considered.

Frequently Asked Questions

The current code defines having two or more violations as public nuisance. The update adds a new definition of public nuisance from two or more violations to one or more and provides a new term of “chronic nuisance.” The city applies “public nuisance” when the same violation is repetitively ignored, not abated or when a single incident creates a significant public safety concern. The chronic nuisance status does not replace the common violation charge(s). The typical process of warning and violation notices will continue, charged through other more specific code sections. The chronic nuisance ordinance creates a threshold based on the number of violations per year, based on tiers that are defined by the number of dwelling units.

The number varies by the number of units. A property with more units would need to have more violations before being considered a habitual offender. This is managed by cities across the country by establishing tiers. Five tiers are planned, in which a chronic nuisance property means:

  1. A parcel with a single dwelling unit where five or more public nuisances have occurred within a 12-month period, beginning Aug. 1 through July 31 of the following year; or
  2. A parcel with two dwelling units where seven or more public nuisances have occurred within a 12-month period, beginning Aug. 1 through July 31 of the following year; or
  3. A parcel with three to nine dwelling units where seven or more public nuisances have occurred within a 12-month period, beginning Aug. 1 through July 31 of the following year; or
  4. A parcel with 10 to 99 dwelling units where fifteen or more public nuisances have occurred within a 12-month period, beginning Aug. 1 through July 31 of the following year;
  5. A parcel with 100 or more dwelling units where 50 or more public nuisances have occurred within a 12-month period, beginning Aug. 1 through July 31 of the following year.

The ordinance covers all violations of the Boulder Revised Code, public health orders, or state law which creates an unreasonable risk of harm or is injurious to the public health, safety or welfare or that unreasonably injures, damages, annoys, inconveniences, or disturbs the peace of any member of the public with normal sensitivity, including those enforced by:

  • Code Compliance (includes building use and conditions)
  • Fire-Rescue
  • Code Enforcement (includes site nuisances like weeds, trash, snow, and the like)
  • Boulder Police Department

Violations do not include:

  • Incidents where the resident the owner, the agent, or the operator is a victim of a crime
  • Violations occurring at a commercial or business property for chronic nuisance
  • Vehicular and traffic violations
  • False alarms and false reports

Based on a data study from the last five years, 10 to 20 properties would likely be designated as “chronic nuisance” properties per year. A goal of the update is to create awareness of the ordinance. Education and notice processes will ideally reduce even that number of properties, recognizing that compliance is the goal, not enforcement.

Properties that receive a warning that they are approaching “chronic nuisance” status will have an opportunity to comply and change. Properties that receive the designation will still have a chance to submit a plan of action for compliance.

Property owners who ignore the notices or fail to comply will move toward additional administrative, criminal and/or civil process and penalties.

Background

Several initiatives have paved the way for the current work to update the ordinance, including: