If Arizona had a Declaration of Independence, it might include doing as you wish with your property as an unalienable right, along with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Just look at the 2-1 vote last week approving Proposition 207 — the Private Property Rights Protection Act.
The Tucson City Council may try to throw a monkey wrench into that leave-me-and-my-property-alone thinking, however, as it considers requiring owners of vacant land to pay a registration fee for keeping their properties vacant.
The fee would start at $500 for a property that has been vacant for one year and go to a maximum of a $5,000 a year for a property that has been vacant for 10 years. There would be a fee waiver to give property owners one year to rehab, sell or demolish their properties.
Councilwoman Carol West suggested a discussion on the fee after researching how well a fee on vacant and dilapidated property worked in Wilmington, Del. West said it's a good way to raise money for the housing trust fund the city created in October.
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City Attorney Mike Rankin said Wilmington is seen as the model for the vacant property fee, although he said there are also similar fees in place in Baltimore, Chicago, Albany, N.Y., and Columbus, Ohio.
Rankin said registration fees have been used in several cities and aren't prohibited by state law or the city charter. He said the Legislature passed a law in 2006 prohibiting registration for rental properties, but Rankin said the Legislature has never done the same on vacant land.
West said she wasn't sure how people would react to the proposal, but said as of now it's only at the idea stage, and she hopes a policy can be hashed out by the city staff members and through the council's subcommittees.
The idea of the fee is to identify vacant and dilapidated properties, and through the registration fees persuade owners to fix up, remodel or even sell their properties, West said.
"A lot them (vacant properties), people live outside the state and don't care," West said.
Councilman Jose Ibarra said he liked the idea as long as there were safety nets for property owners who didn't have the money to fix up their properties because they inherited the land or have yet to save the money to develop it.
The city should mainly target those who have been "purposefully ignoring their property," Ibarra said.
"We need to go after the landowners who don't take care of their land and it becomes a magnet" for crime and illegally activity, Ibarra said.
The vacant properties can also become hot spots for illegal dumping, blighting a neighborhood and attracting more bad elements, he added.
"We should make them do something or realize the consequences," Ibarra said of problem landowners.
