City eyes lead ordinance tweaks

The city of Toledo is preparing to enforce its lead ordinance after clearing some legal hurdles, and some rental property owners could have to get their homes in compliance before the end of the year.

The city’s lead ordinance requires owners of residential rental properties with four units or less and family childcare homes built before 1978 to obtain a lead-safe certificate.

“The majority of our housing stock was built prior to 1978,” said Coleena Ali, deputy director of the city’s Department of Housing and Community Development. “In fact, 85 percent of our homes in the Toledo area were built before 1980.”

The lead-safe ordinance was passed by council in 2020 and amended in 2023.

However, the city was not enforcing the ordinance during pending litigation that has been resolved, in the city’s favor, in January.

Now, the city’s Department of Law and the Department of Housing and Community Development are suggesting a few amendments to address any future legal challenges. Toledo City Council will have to vote to approve the amendments.

One of the proposed amendments would be to move the compliance dates back, because of the legal delay.

The compliance dates will be broken down in phases by census tract.

Rental property owners with properties built before 1978 in census tracts 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 16, 17, and 18 will need to obtain certificates by Dec. 31, 2025.

Rental properties with four units or less and family child care homes built before 1978 will need to be in compliance before June 30, 2029.

The operations were previously performed by the Lucas County Health Department, but the proposed amendment would move operations in-house, conducted through the Department of Housing and Community Development.

That means lead-safe certificates would be distributed from the city, rather than the county. The department would also oversee the lead inspectors.

“So for the individuals who go out and perform the local inspections and who issue reports that are needed for certification, in that regard, the director would have the ability to reject a certificate from the inspector who is believed to be not properly performing any sort of responsibility in terms of conducting the inspection,” said Tammy Lavalette, a senior attorney with the law department.

Rosalyn Clemens, director of the city’s Department of Housing and Community Development, said she is building up her staff to do the work internally.

“We are going to be hiring a rehabilitation projects officer that will be in charge of reviewing these reports that relevant property owners submit to get their certification, doing quality control, and going out and testing to ensure that the property’s safe,” Ms. Clemens said.

The county won’t be completely removed from the process, though. If a child tests positive for lead, a pediatrician is required to report it to the state and county health departments.

“The health department still has a critical role in doing what health departments do,” Ms. Clemens said. “Which is going in and troubleshooting when a child has been identified as being lead poisoned.”

Ms. Ali said on any given day, about 3,500 children in Lucas County have elevated lead levels.

About 18,419 children under the age of 6 live in Toledo, and when children are exposed to lead, Ms. Ali said that it affects them developmentally, emotionally, and educationally.

“Those are the years when we have children that are growing, their brains are developing, their bodies are developing, and the impact of lead in their bodies is very traumatic,” Ms. Ali said.

The Department of Housing and Community Development estimates about 114,082 units in Toledo were built prior to 1978. Of rental units, 52,098 were built prior to 1978.

“Every ZIP code in the city of Toledo is high risk.” Ms. Ali said. “The good neighborhoods, the not-so-great neighborhoods, the expensive neighborhoods, and the not-so expensive neighborhoods, all of them are high risk in Toledo.”

Ms. Clemens said she will present the amendments to the lead safe ordinance to Toledo City Council at its April 15 agenda review meeting. The next meeting where the council could vote on the amendments is April 22.

“Our hope is, with the passage of these amendments, we will pull the trigger on this,” Ms. Clemens said of the ordinance.

Contact Alice Momany at amomany@theblade.com.