Concerns that vacant, unmaintained storefronts and buildings are hampering efforts of their neighbors to revitalize and invigorate the community have Augusta officials looking to crack down on building owners they say appear to have no interest in doing anything with their buildings.

City councilors recently asked city staff to review how Bangor, Brewer and most recently Portland have enacted ordinances to address vacant buildings and storefronts using registration and fee requirements to motivate building owners to find tenants or sell their unoccupied buildings, to bring more life to neighborhoods, especially the downtown area.

But it turns out Augusta already has a vacant and abandoned properties ordinance, adopted in 2015 and amended in 2016.

At the time, city officials sought to address the rash of residential properties being foreclosed upon by banks and then not maintained, and negatively impacting the neighborhoods around them, Augusta Economic Development Director Keith Luke said.

The ordinance requires property owners to register their buildings within 60 days of them becoming vacant, pay a registration fee of $200 for commercial and $100 for residential property owners, and designate a local property manager and provide contact information the city could use to reach them to help enforce property maintenance standards.

However, the ordinance has waivers for buildings currently being actively marketed for sale, owner-occupied buildings, and buildings currently under renovations. Some building owners have taken advantage of waivers by appearing to list their buildings for sale while not actually actively seeking buyers or tenants in an effort to get around registration requirements for vacant properties. At least one city councilor said they are being used by owners as tax write-offs.

Now, city councilors have directed staff and the city attorney to research and bring back recommendations to strengthen the ordinance. Some options are eliminating some or all of the waivers, increasing fees or fines to provide more motivation for do-nothing building owners tofill or sell their vacant buildings and storefronts, or registering them and face having to pay fees for as long as those spaces remain unoccupied.

Luke said he could think of around a half-dozen buildings in the downtown area alone that are listed with real estate brokers but whose owners have no intent to lease or sell the space.

“They’re just sitting on them,” Luke said at the Sept. 25 City Council meeting. “Some of these places have been vacant since I’ve worked for the city, 13 years. They’ve been given opportunities they have not taken.”

Ward 2 City Councilor Kevin Judkins, who works in real estate, said some owners also don’t take care of their properties and, when they look bad, the whole area around them looks worse including the city’s historic downtown.

“It doesn’t make our Water Street look good with a number of storefronts that look terrible, they aren’t being kept up in any way, windows are not being washed, there’s broken pieces …” Judkins said. “I think this is a good idea. We’ve got some work to do, there’s a lot of things to look at here.”

In an email to the city about the issue, Victoria Abbott, president of the Augusta Downtown Alliance board of directors, said the board appreciates that the city is opening this conversation.

“We support any effort to drive economic development to our downtown,” Abbott wrote, “while bringing all voices to the table.”

Luke said the good news for downtown Augusta is the vacancy rate is only 20% for buildings there, not including buildings which are currently under renovation, which he said is a historic, generational low. But he said it’s still too high, and represents significant underutilization of those properties.

City Manager Jared Mills said staff would work on the issue and bring recommendations back to city councilors to discuss at another informational meeting.