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City considers grace period for struggling developers – Metro US

City considers grace period for struggling developers

A city committee has recommended council go ahead with extending the grace period for developers who have put projects on hold due to the economic downturn.

Developers under the amendment would have up to twelve months to wait out the economic storm, “and make it as easy as possible for developers when the market turns, to be able to re-establish their development,” said Ald. John Mar.

However, there are concerns over the safety of the various stalled construction sites across the city. The committee says developers would still have to follow safety code procedures even if there is no active work going on.

However, apparently not everyone is following those rules — the city is taking the developer of a downtown mixed-use skyscraper project to court for an alleged failure to properly maintain its site.

But, according to the city that’s a rare situation.

“We’ve really issued only ten orders on a property owner to actually take steps to ensure the site is maintained properly” said senior special projects manager Clif de Jong.