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St. Louis taking on vacant property owners by eliminating protections against fines

On Monday, the Board of Alderman unanimously agreed to get rid of what has become known as the McKee Exemption. It allowed some property owners to get out of paying fines for their vacant real estate.
Credit: Clancy, Samuel

ST. LOUIS – There are about 10,000 vacant buildings in the City of St. Louis. Many of them are eye-sore that need to be cleaned up or redeveloped. The city is now taking an aggressive approach to pressure property owners to make a change.

When Lauren Dickerson and her husband bought their Tower Grove East home two years ago, they hoped that the vacant house next door would eventually be remodeled.

“Every once in a while, it would seem like someone pried open a door and went inside,” Dickerson said. "As time goes on, that house is becoming more of a hazard than anything else.

“During the thunderstorm, we heard a very strange thunderclap and it sounded more like a crash,” Dickerson described.

As it happens, the entire back wall collapsed.

“It's dangerous and I could see a lot of people, who have children, not wanting to be around this,” Dickerson said.

St. Louis is home to thousands of these potentially dangerous vacant properties. On Monday, the Board of Aldermen unanimously agreed to get rid of what has become known as the McKee Exemption. It allowed some property owners to get out of paying fines for their vacant real estate.

"What that does is really level the playing field,” said 20th Ward Alderman, Cara Spencer. “And make the way that we apply our vacant building ordinance to all developers in the city.”

Spencer said now all vacant homeowners will be fined $200 twice a year. Those fines will give the city funds to continue to assess and address the issue of vacancy.

“It will create an additional source of revenue for the city, quite frankly, and we need that to be able to pay the folks that we do, to go out and assess the vacant building fines,” said Spencer.

Dickerson said there is a lot of potential in the house next door.

“It could be that, somebody bought a whole bunch of property, and then maybe got in over their head,” Dickerson thought. She hopes that someone else can see its potential too.

"The best kind of development should involve the people that live in the community,” Dickerson said.

On Tuesday, Mayor Lyda Krewson will also address the problem of vacant properties in the City. Her office told 5 On Your Side that she will announce a multi-step project and that she is teaming up with some key private partners to hold landlords accountable.

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