Bill: Draft New Oakridge Building Regulation Act

[asdertplays]

A
BILL
To
Rewrite the Building Regulations of Oakridge​

The citizens of Oakridge, through their elected Representatives in the Town-Council and the force of law ordained to that Town-Council by the people through the constitution of Oakridge, do hereby enact the following provisions into the by-laws:

1 - Short Title and Enactment
(1) This Act may be cited as the 'New Oakridge Building Regulation Act.'
(2) This Act shall be enacted immediately upon its signage.
(3) This Act has been authored by: Mayor and Councillor asdertplays
(4) This Act has been co-sponsored by:

2 - Reasons
(1) No set of regulations will ever be perfect, but the current Building Regulations have a number of faults
(2) The current regulations are vague, disorganized, and are missing many things
(3) The current regulations are also spread widely across many amendments, and creating more amendments would simply cause yet more disorganization

3 - Repealed Acts
(1) This act repeals the following acts: Oakridge Property Standards Act, Restaurant Regulations Act, Oakridge Property Standards Update and Fixes Act, Oakridge Property Activity Act, Eviction Time Limits Extention Act, and Oakridge Region Naming Update Act

3- Jurisdiction
(1) This bill rewrites and will override the current building regulations and put them into law
(2) The building regulations may be updated by either Town Council via passing an act of council, or by agreement between the Mayor and the Head of Residence
(a) Any update made without an Act of Council may not override any Act of Council, other than section 4 of this Act

4 - New Building Regulations
(1) The Oakridge Building Regulations document will now contain the following document, which shall be enforced by law:

View attachment 49205

I. Definitions​

(1) Oakridge Residential Plots

1. Plots beginning with the following are considered Oakridge Residential Plots:
   1. or-valley
   2. or-apt
   3. or-r
   4. or-ship
   5. or-train
2. Oakridge Residential plots may only contain houses or other similar residential dwellings
3. Oakridge Residential plots may not contain chest shops, subregions or businesses

(2) Oakridge Commercial Plots

1. The following plots are considered Oakridge Commercial Plots:
   1. Plots beginning with ‘or-c’
   2. Plots beginning with or-shop
   3. Plots beginning with or-sp
   4. The following plots: or-cinema, or-depot, or-brewery, or-tidmouth, or-shop-06, or-shop-07, or-dealership, or-radio, and or-gas-station
2. Oakridge Commercial plots may only have businesses, offices, shops, or apartments built on them.
3. Oakridge Commercial plots may be assigned a theme. The theme may be posted on the exterior of the plot, or defined in this document. Plots assigned a theme must contain a business that follows the theme.
4. The following plots are assigned the following themes:
   1. Or-cinema : Movie Theater
   2. Or-depot : Wholesaler/Hardware Store
   3. Or-brewery : Brewery/Bar
   4. Or-tidmouth : Train Yard
   5. Or-shop-06 : Mechanic
   6. Or-shop-07 : Diner
   7. Or-dealership : Vehicle Dealership
   8. Or-radio : Radio Station or Recording studio
   9. Or-gas-station : Gas Station and Convenience Store
   10. Or-observatory: Observatory
5. All Oakridge Commercial plots with on-road seating alongside them must have a restaurant or other dining facility on the first floor. (Current plots falling under this are or-c023, or-c024.)

(3) Oakridge subsidized rental spaces

1. The following spaces are defined as Oakridge Commercial Rental Space.
   1. Stores. Plots beginning with ‘or-store’.
   2. Malls. Plots beginning with ‘or-mall’
   3. Black Market Stalls. Plots beginning with ‘or-bm’.
   4. Food Trucks. Plots beginning with ‘or-truck’.
   5. Park Stands. Plots beginning with ‘or-parkstand’
   6. Newsstands. Plots beginning with ‘or-news’
2. Oakridge Commercial Rental Spaces may only have businesses, offices or shops built on them

(4) Oakridge Mixed-use Plots

1. Any plot beginning with or-m is an Oakridge Mixed-Use Plot
2. Oakridge Mixed-use Plots may only have businesses, offices, shops, or apartments built on the ground level.
3. Oakridge Mixed-use Plots may only have residential space on any higher floors, and Chest-shops are only permitted on the ground floor.

ARTICLE II. Plot Regulations and Policies​

(1) Building Policy

1. All builds must be 1950's small-town America themed.
2. All builds on empty plots must be pasted by the DCT and approved by the Head of Residence, Head of Urban Development, and Mayor of Oakridge
3. The exterior of buildings on plots cannot be altered without approval from the Head of Urban Development.
   1. This does not apply to murder clues

(2) Beacon Policy

1. Plots shall not contain activated beacons.

(3) New Player Rental Space

1. Certain rental spaces in Oakridge may be designated as ‘New Player Rental Space’. These spaces shall be marked by a sign on every exterior entrance to the plot
2. New Player Rental spaces may only be rented by a player who have a join date in the past 2 month(s)

(3) Merged Plots Policy

1. Plots can only be merged with approval from the Head of Residence and the Head of Urban Development.

(4) Fair Use Policy

1. Players may own/rent no more than the following amount of each plot type in Oakridge at one time:
   1. 1 Oakridge Residential OR Oakridge Mixed-Use plot
   2. 5 Oakridge Commercial plot
   3. 3 Oakridge Commercial Rental spaces
2. A company with a non-elapsed property registry account is allowed to hold 2 plots of any type(s), which does not count towards the player's plot limit(s).
3. A player may not rent more than 1 plot of any type with a "New Player Rental Space" distinction
4. Realtors may not exceed normal plot limitations, even for the purpose of sale

(5) Inactivity Policy

1. Any player who has less than 6 hours of playtime in the last 30 days, or is permanently banned/deported, shall be evicted from their plots after being given no less than 1 week notice by the Town of Oakridge.
2. For the purpose of this section, ownership is solely determined by the player who holds the plot in question in game.

(6) Plot Theming policy

1. All plots must follow all rules for their given plot type as defined in Article I of this document
2. Certain Oakridge Commercial Rental Spaces have additional restrictions or benefits, as defined below:
   1. Black Market Stalls may sell items that would otherwise be considered illegal by town bylaws
   2. Food Trucks may only contain chest shops that sell food or drink items
   3. Newsstands and Park Stands: No player shall rent both Newsstands or Park Stands in a single stall. The second one (with a higher number in the region name) will be evicted with no less than 72 hours notice via /mail ahead of time.

(7) Active Utilization Policy

1. All plots must be in active use. Active use means the following:
   1. The plot should be furnished or decorated in a manner consistent with their purpose
   2. The use should take up a significant portion of the building, and significant portions of a building cannot remain empty
   3. A commercial plot such as a shop must be actively stocked
2. The Head of Residence may judge a plot as inactive for reasons not covered by the above, if they feel there is an issue of under-utilization in the plot
   1. This decision must be co-signed by the mayor
   2. Any violation for this reason requires that the plot owner be sent the exact reasons for this decision, and a list of reasonable actions the owner could take to resolve the violation
   3. If the following is not provided, any action due to this violation is considered void
3. This policy only applies 14 days after an owner gains possession of the plot

(8) Rental Evictions Policy

1. No player who was evicted from a rental region for any reason may rent that region again within one week of that eviction, unless that eviction was deemed to be in error.

ARTICLE III. Violations and Enforcement​

(1) Fines

1. Owners of plots in violation with any part of the Oakridge Property Standards Act may be subject to fines
2. The amount of the fine for each violation is defined below:
   1. Merged Plot / Building Policy: The total cost to the town to repair the plot, plus $1500
   2. New Player Rental Space: $1000
3. A plot owner may be fined for a violation even if the violation is resolved before a potential eviction

(2) Evictions

1. Plots in violation with any part of the Oakridge Property Standards Act may be subject to eviction if the violation is not resolved within a certain amount of time of receiving notice via /mail
2. The amount of time given to resolve each violation before eviction is given below:
   1. New Player Rental space: 0 days
   2. Merged Plot Policy / Building Policy: 14 days
   3. All other policies: 7 days

ARTICLE IV. Exemptions and the Right of Redemption​

(1) Exemptions

1. The Head of Residence may issue and and revoke exemptions and extensions for building regulation and legal compliance when they are satisfied that either of the following criteria is met:
   1. there is a compassionate and compelling reason requiring an exemption/extension
   2. that the exemption/extension does not undermine the intent of the eviction process
   3. that there is significant progress being made to rectify the breach
   4. in the interests of large-scale development
2. Plots may not be evicted for inactivity if the player’s 30 day playtime matches their total playtime, even if it is less than 6 hours
3. The following plots are government operated plots and are exempt from any regulations in this document:
   1. or-dos
   2. or-health
   3. or-spawn
   4. or-sheriff
   5. or-commercedept
   6. or-postoffice
   7. or-townhall
   8. or-shelter

(2) Right of Redemption Policy

1. Any player who is not permanently deported/banned, whose plot is evicted by the Town of Oakridge, shall have an opportunity to buy their plot back directly from the town government before it is publicly auctioned, known as their right of redemption.
2. In order to qualify for right of redemption, the plot's eviction must have been due to a clerical error or misunderstanding between the plot owner and the Town of Oakridge, or the reason for eviction must have been out of the owner's reasonable control to resolve within the time given.
   1. A plot owner shall have between the period of eviction and the beginning of the plot's auction, which shall not be less than 72 hours, to contact the Town Council and justify why the circumstances surrounding their eviction fall within the criteria listed above.
   2. The Mayor, Head of Urban Development, and Head of Residence must all agree that an eviction meets one of the criteria listed above before the right of redemption is enacted.
3. Upon being allowed the right of redemption, a plot owner shall make a payment to the Town of Oakridge equal to the price at which the plot was last purchased in a public auction, plus 15% of that value. If this payment is not made within 24 hours of the player's right of redemption being accepted, the right of redemption shall be declared void and the plot may be auctioned.