Porterville, CA Property Maintenance: Property Blight (2026)
Key Facts
- Model code adopted
- 1997 Uniform Code for Abatement of Dangerous Buildings
- Adopting section
- § 7-80
- Companion code
- 1997 Uniform Housing Code, § 7-101
- Enforcing official
- Building Official, Community Development
- Latest re-adoption
- Ordinance 1573, May 18, 1999
Summary
The City of Porterville has adopted the 1997 Uniform Code for the Abatement of Dangerous Buildings by reference as a City ordinance, giving the Building Official authority to order repair, vacation or demolition of any building or structure that endangers life, health, safety or property. Six ordinances since 1981 have kept the adoption current.
7-80: CODE ADOPTED:
A. That certain code in book form to which more particular reference is hereinafter made, setting forth orderly procedures for the repair, vacation and demolition of buildings or structures which from any cause endanger the life, limb, health, morals, property, safety or welfare of the general public or their occupants, to be known and referred to as the uniform code for the abatement of dangerous buildings, is hereby adopted and enacted by the city council of the city of Porterville as an ordinance for the city of Porterville, to all intents and purposes and to the same effect as if each and every sentence, comma, paragraph, word, phrase and clause in said code mentioned or referred to therein were and each thereof was fully and specifically set forth herein.
B. Reference is hereby made to one copy of the 1997 edition of the uniform code for the abatement of dangerous buildings compiled by the International Conference of Building Officials, filed with the city clerk of Porterville and said code is by reference adopted herein as provided by law.
Full Breakdown
Section 7-80 of Article XI adopts, word for word, the International Conference of Building Officials' 1997 Uniform Code for the Abatement of Dangerous Buildings as if every sentence, comma, paragraph, word, phrase and clause in that code were fully and specifically set forth in the Municipal Code itself. The filed copy is kept with the City Clerk rather than printed in full in the Municipal Code, but the adopting ordinance is Porterville's own local law: the City Council has re-enacted it repeatedly, in Ordinance 1243 (1981), 1296 (1984), 1373 (1987), 1425 (1989), 1523 (1995) and 1573 (1999), carrying the adoption forward as the underlying code was updated.
Right next to it, Article XII (Section 7-101) adopts the companion 1997 Uniform Housing Code the same way, covering occupied substandard residential buildings rather than vacant or structurally dangerous ones. Together the two articles give Community Development's Building Official the legal basis to declare a structure dangerous or substandard and order its repair, vacation or demolition, rather than leaving blighted or unsafe buildings to informal negotiation. Because the abatement code itself sits outside the printed Municipal Code text, the procedural detail, notice periods, hearing rights and cost-recovery mechanics come from the filed 1997 ICBO edition rather than from a locally drafted chapter.
Violations & Fines
Because Section 7-80 adopts the abatement code wholesale, enforcement runs through the procedures printed in that 1997 edition rather than a locally drafted fine schedule: the Building Official can order repair, vacation or demolition of a dangerous structure, and noncompliance with an abatement order exposes the owner to the cost-recovery and lien remedies built into the adopted code.
Frequently Asked Questions
What code governs dangerous or condemned buildings in Porterville?
Where can I read the actual abatement procedures?
Is a dangerous building order different from a substandard housing order in Porterville?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Porterville
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