Committee moves drain-tile and flood-control requirement to investment-property section, lowers substantial-improvement trigger to 35%

Staff presented ordinance amendments to relocate drain-tile and flood-control requirements into the section covering investment properties and to lower the substantial-improvement threshold from 50% to 35% for investment properties. The stated purpose is to avoid imposing drain-tile and water‑service upgrades on homeowners recovering from events such as floods or fires while ensuring investment properties undertaking large renovations meet flood-control requirements.

Shannon Burski, permanent department supervisor, explained that the current ordinance’s location and wording had caused confusion and that moving the requirement and lowering the percentage for investment properties would better target rental/investment stock. “We don’t want to hit a homeowner who had a flood in their basement and they ended up having or a fire or something,” Burski said; the change would apply when an owner undertakes renovations equivalent to 35% of the property value.

Committee members asked that staff add a clear definition of “investment property” to prevent property owners from claiming residency to avoid the requirement. Members discussed enforcement limitations and state rules that can affect post‑sale modifications and noted practical constraints on policing owner‑occupancy assertions. Staff agreed to relocate the investment‑property language to the substantial‑improvement section, draft a definition of investment property, correct minor grammatical issues, and forward the ordinance to legal for review before referral to council.

No formal vote on the ordinance text was recorded during the meeting; the committee approved proceeding with staff revisions and routing the draft to legal and council.