The Iowa City Council is debating evicting some zombies from housing ordinances in the city code.
It voted unanimously on Tuesday to repeal a years-old ordinance capping the number of rental permits for single-family and duplex homes in the city. It deferred action on a second ordinance that aimed to prevent discrimination against tenants with rent subsidies.
With laws approved by the Iowa Legislature in effect, the city no longer is able to enforce those ordinances, which City Attorney Eric Goers referred to as "zombie laws." The city staff advised council members in a December meeting that they must clean up the code so it reflects what is legal and doesn't confuse residents.
Speaking in that meeting, City Manager Geoff Fruin said he could understand the political desire to leave them on the books, but that doing so presents "practical challenges" to the city staff and residents.
"The city code is a body of work compiled over decades and decades and decades. When (city staff) research items, we have to go back and try to understand what led to the creation of code items 50, 60, 70 years ago and that's hard enough as it is," Fruin said.
"I would urge council not to make political statements in the code" by leaving state-nullified ordinances on the books, he said, warning that even if the current staff knows they can't be enforced, they could create problems for future staffers.
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