A lot of time has been spent at recent Greenville City Council meetings talking about the occupancy permit ordinance, which was approved last March and went into effect on June 1.
The ordinance pertains only to rental houses and is designed to make sure homes are safe for renters.
Crystal Grove from Bond County Realtors has talked to the council often about the ordinance. That led to the creation of a group to review it.
Wednesday night, the group met as part of a special city council meeting,
WGEL talked to City Manager Dave Willey after the meeting.
He told us they formed the group to see if any improvements could be made to the operation of the occupancy permit. He said several people thought they could separate some life safety issues from “regular code issues” to pare down the list and to issue a permit faster. He said Grove brought in some suggestions that he thought had merit and he will try to incorporate.
He said another objective is to create an appeal process. He believes there is a process – the board of adjustment – that already applies to the program.
Click below to hear more:
The city manager was asked what happens next on the issue.
He said he will review what was heard in the meeting and will send a summary of any potential changes to the council and to some who were in the meeting. Once he receives feedback, he plans to finalize the changes. Willey said the city has no benefit to stop real estate transactions.
Click below to hear more of his comments:
The council has also been reviewing occupancy permit ordinances from other municipalities.
