§ 6-902 — Board for the Condemnation of Insanitary Buildings; Condemnation Review Board.

(a) The Mayor is directed to appoint or designate a board to consist of not less than 3 members, to perform the duties and functions required by this chapter as follows:

(1) A Board for the Condemnation of Insanitary Buildings to issue appropriate orders of condemnation requiring the correction of such condition or conditions or to require the demolition of any building, in accordance with the provisions of this chapter;

(2) Repealed.

(a-1) The Board shall be comprised of 7 members, as follows:

(1) Two members designated by the Department of Buildings, one of whom shall be the chairperson;

(2) One member designated by the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development;

(3) One member designated by the Department of General Services;

(4) One member designated by the Department of Public Works;

(5) One member designated by the Department of Housing and Community Development; and

(6) One member designated by the Office of Historic Preservation.

(b) A majority of the members of the Board established by subsection (a) of this section shall constitute a quorum, and a majority vote of the members present shall be required in connection with any act of the Board. No person shall act as a member of the Board who has any property interest, direct or indirect, in his own right or through relatives or kin, in the building the sanitary condition of which is under consideration.

(c) Repealed.

(c-1) The chairperson may direct that the Board shall sit in panels of 3 members, in which 3 members constitute a quorum, when there is a declaration by the chairperson that the business of the Board cannot be met by sitting as a full Board. A decision made by a panel established by this subsection shall have the same force and effect as a decision of the full Board. Decisions regarding membership on the panels and designation of panel activities shall be made by the chairperson.

(d) The several provisions of §§ 5-1001 , 5-1002 , and 5-1003 shall be applicable to and enforceable in any proceeding conducted under the authority of this chapter. Each person acting as a member of the Board required to be established by this section, and each alternate member when acting in the stead of the member for whom he is alternate, is hereby authorized to administer oaths to witnesses summoned in any proceeding conducted by the Board. Any fee which may be paid any witness summoned to appear before the Board shall be assessed as a tax against the property the condition of which is under investigation, such tax to be collected in the manner provided in § 6-907 ; provided, that whenever any order of condemnation is vacated or set aside, by the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, the witness fee authorized by this subsection to be assessed against the property affected by such order of condemnation shall not be so assessed, but shall be paid by the government of the District of Columbia.

Legislative History

May 1, 1906, 34 Stat. 157, ch. 2073, § 2; Aug. 28, 1954, 68 Stat. 884, ch. 1032; Nov. 7, 1965, 79 Stat. 1216, Pub. L. 89-326, § 1; Mar. 3, 1979, D.C. Law 2-139, § 3205(qq), 25 DCR 5740; Aug. 7, 1980, D.C. Law 3-81, § 2(gg), 27 DCR 2632; Apr. 27, 2001, D.C. Law 13-281, § 103(b), 48 DCR 1888; Dec. 7, 2004, D.C. Law 15-205, § 2072(a), 51 DCR 8441; Sept. 26, 2012, D.C. Law 19-171, § 42, 59 DCR 6190