Urbana City Council Considers New Draft of Criminal Public Nuisance Ordinance

Urbana city officials ran into heavy criticism last fall when they proposed fining landlords who allow criminal behavior to continue unabated on their property. Now, the city is proposing a new version of the ordinance.

Mayor Laurel Prussing says the re-drafted ordinance is virtually identical to the one already on the books in neighboring Champaign. Landlords who fail or refuse to do anything to control criminal activities on their properities like drug trafficking or gang violence could face fines. But, at the Urbana City Council's Committee of the Whole meeting on Monday night, Prussing said landlords would have a clear process whereby they can work with the city to deal with the problems first.

"If (the process) doesn't work, and the landlord has tried", said Prussing. "they will not be punished. I mean, we're trying to work with people."

Most Urbana city council members voiced support for the new ordinance last night. But Republican Heather Stevenson said the new version of the ordinance was no better than the old one. And Democrat David Gehrig said that while the new ordinance was an improvement, but he still had doubts.

"There's still something sitting in my gut saying that this is an ordinance about A being punished for what B does", said Gehrig. "And I just haven't been able to get it to sit right yet."

Attorney Kip Pope told the city council that ordinance would penalize landlords unfairly for tenant behavior they can't control, especially since Urbana city code prevents them from turning down tenants with felony convictions.

The Urbana City Council is keeping the ordinance in committee for revisions, and to get public feedback.