DOWAGIAC — Creators of urban decay in the city of Dowagiac will soon be faced with higher penalties and harsher consequences for noncompliance with local law.

Monday evening, The Dowagiac City Council approved a revised version of its existing blight ordinance that would create strict consequences for those who don’t comply.

The new ordinance would impose escalating fees on repeat blight offenders. First the fee would rise from $25 to $100 if a homeowner does not comply with the blight ordinance. The second offense would result in a fee of $300, and a third offense would result in a fee of $500. The fines would be imposed per day of noncompliance and would accumulate. If the fees are not payed, the city could levy the unpaid balances on a resident’s taxes, according to Mayor Don Lyons.

The ordinance was first read by council members on April 23, and will become city law within the week.

“What this does is streamline the city laws to speed up [the blight reporting] process,” Lyons said.

As the blight ordinance currently stands, a blight violation is considered a criminal misdemeanor, which creates for a lengthy process that allows each violation to stand on its own, said City Manager Kevin Anderson. Under the new ordinance, a blight violation is a civil infraction that allows for increasing fines with each offense.

Anderson described the revised ordinance as “giving teeth” to the way the city handles blight cases.

“That is the heart of matter,” Anderson said. “The fines are greater, they compound and they incentivize somebody to get things squared away.”

Dowagiac resident Sharon Miller said she is in favor the new ordinance, though she expressed concerns about whether it would do its job of stopping blight within the city, adding that she has seen major issues from blight over the years, to the point where she thinks it is dangerous for people entering the offending properties.

“If they don’t pay [the fines for blight noncompliance], it would go on their taxes. Studies have shown that people can stay in a home for a very long time with delinquent taxes,” she said. “We have been dealing [with blight] for years. … Will this change anything?”

Lyons responded that the new ordinance is the city doing its best to combat the issue of blight.

“There are limits by law of what we can do, and time will tell,” he said. “There is still a due process we have to follow.”

The city council expressed faith in the new ordinance and said that they believed it was a step in the right direction for dealing with the issue of urban decay in the city.

“This is a critical next step for us,” Lyons said. “Blight is something that affects everyone.”