Westfield, IN Property Maintenance: Property Blight (2026)

Sec. 14-94 provides that "[a]ll buildings or portions thereof within the city which are determined after inspection by the building commissioner to be unsafe" are "hereby declared to be public nuisances" that "shall be abated by repair, rehabilitation, demolition and/or removal." Sec. 14-93 incorporates Indiana's unsafe-building statute, IC 36-7-9-1 through 36-7-9-28, into the division, so state law governs city proceedings for inspection, repair or removal, and the state statute controls if it conflicts with the local rule. Sec. 14-96 supplements the state definition of an unsafe building with seventeen specific local defect categories, covering blocked or unsafe exits, structural stress beyond one and one-half times allowed working loads, fire, flood or wind damage that weakens the structure, walls or members likely to collapse or detach, dilapidation that creates an attractive nuisance, and buildings that governmental officials determine are unfit for human habitation or a fire hazard because of obsolescence or deterioration.

Sec. 14-95 authorizes the building commissioner to administer and proceed under that law in ordering repair, rehabilitation, demolition or removal of any building found unsafe. Sec. 14-97 requires all reconstruction, repair or demolition work to meet accepted trade standards under the state's building laws defined at IC 22-12-1-3. Sec. 14-91 also incorporates the state definition of "substantial property interest," which determines who must be given notice before the city acts against a building.