Owners of properties that remain vacant for 45 consecutive days or longer will be required to register them with the City of York.

York City Council voted 4-0 Tuesday night to approve the vacant-property ordinance after making some revisions. Councilwoman Genevieve Ray was absent because of illness.

The revisions included appointing the fire department to handle the registration and striking a fee schedule that had been previously recommended.

The council will later establish the fees based on what the fire department determines the costs of enforcement and administration of the ordinance are.

In addition, council removed an exception, which would have excluded federal, state and city governments, as well as other agencies, from reporting their vacant buildings.

Council members voiced their support of the bill, which they say will help protect properties and residents.

"It will allow us to get into vacant buildings to make sure that they are secure so that they don't become neighborhood problems that kids could get into or vagrants," President Joe Musso said.

Knowing where vacant properties are should help with redevelopment efforts as well, he said.

The bill should improve the quality of life, councilwoman Toni Smith said, because some landlords don't respect the citizens of York.

"The only way they listen is once you start to hit their pocketbook," she said. "We don't like to do that, but sometimes that's what you have to do."

Owners will be required to register vacant properties with the city by Nov. 15 of each calendar year. Officials expect the city to register about 600 properties.

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About Safeguard
Safeguard Properties is the largest privately held field services company in the country. Located in Cleveland, Ohio and founded in 1990 by Robert Klein, Safeguard has grown from a regional preservation company with a few employees and a handful of contractors performing services in the Midwest, to a national company with over 500 employees. Safeguard is supported by a nationwide network of subcontractors able to perform any requested superintendence, preservation, and maintenance functions, as well as numerous ancillary services in the U.S., the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.