The complex case of 60-year-old Charles Fowler involves a laundry list of violations, from acres of land covered by green waste mixed with garbage, mountains of dead fish, and illegally placed mobile homes and septic systems, to allowing gas to leak into Adobe Creek, grading and gravel extraction without permits, and piles of junk, according to county documents.
Fowler's case is complicated by his family's assertion that he has been suffering from health issues, with his daughter now trying to help clean up the property.
Voris Brumfield, the county's Code Enforcement Division manager, said there are two processes going on in Fowler's case – a Code Enforcement case and a separate action by a Lake County Environmental Health.
If Fowler doesn't come up with a plan to clean up his land, he could face prosecution by the Lake County District Attorney's Office, according to Ray Ruminski, Environmental Health's director.
The case is scheduled for a Code Enforcement hearing before the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
On Monday, Fowler's daughter, Sara – who is working with her father on the cleanup – requested a continuance of the hearing to give her more time to assess the situation and meet with Code Enforcement staff in order to get direction.
However, Community Development Director Rick Coel told Lake County News in an e-mail Monday that his staff was recommending moving forward with the Tuesday hearing due to the case's seriousness.
Complaints lead to investigation
Code Enforcement first visited Fowler's 360-acre property – located at 9250 and 9100 Adobe Creek Road in Kelseyville – in January 2005, while following up on a complaint.
Officials determined Fowler was in violation of numerous county zoning ordinance rules, with appliances, building materials, scrap metal, junk vehicles and other trash crowding the property, which is zoned “Agricultural Preserve-Water Way-Scenic Corridor.”
Fowler was cited at that time, according to county documents. When Code Enforcement staff returned in June 2005, they found he remained in violation and had made no progress in cleaning up. During another visit in August officers found that Fowler had installed a mobile home without permits.
Code Enforcement received another complaint and returned to the property in March 2006, where they first confirmed the illegal dumping of green waste. They also found a singlewide mobile home that appeared to have been abandoned on the property, which had previously been left on Gunn Street in Kelseyville.
Once again, Code Enforcement's staff report said county staff contacted Fowler, sending him a “courtesy” letter advising of the violations.
On March 30, 2006, California Department of Fish and Game Warden Ryan Maki visited Fowler's property, where he issued a citation of Fish and Game Code because he found Fowler was allowing oil or gas to enter Adobe Creek.
The following month, Code Enforcement followed up by sending Fowler a notice of nuisance by certified mail.
It was in April of 2006 that Code Enforcement received a complaint that Lakeport Disposal was responsible for “the illegal dumping of green waste on the subject property,” a county report explains.
Code Enforcement's report said county staff contacted Lakeport Disposal owner Joe Butcher, and confirmed that the company was responsible for dumping the green waste.
Butcher, according to county records, told Code Enforcement that he had an agreement to pay Fowler to dump the green waste on his property. Butcher's son, Craig, said the company was paying Fowler a $500 per month handling fee for the materials.
That contradicted a statement made by Fowler, who contacted Code Enforcement after officials spoke with Butcher to say that he was using the green waste for compost “and was not charging Lakeport Disposal any fees to utilize his property,” according to a Code Enforcement report.
Fowler refused to let Code Enforcement come onto his property to inspect it, the report states.
Environmental Health joins the investigation
In April 2006 Code Enforcement contacted the Environmental Health Division of the Lake County Department of Health to report the solid waste issues at Fowler's property.
During the rest of that year, Code Enforcement and Environmental Health staff communicated with Fowler and visited his property to inspect the green waste that had been dumped there and gauge his progress on dismantling the abandoned trailer.
However, by November 2006, Fowler was again refusing to clean up the property, according to the county report. He reportedly stated “that no violations existed on his property and that all items on his property were for agricultural or farming use,” and refused further inspections of the land.
By February 2007, the situation had only escalated, with Code Enforcement receiving a complaint that Fowler had installed a doublewide mobile without permits, an allegation confirmed by Building Inspector Thomas Blavet, according to the county.
For the rest of 2007, Fowler refused to come into compliance by removing the garbage, trailers and green waste from his property, according to Code Enforcement's report on the case.
Late last October, Code Enforcement obtained a warrant to inspect the property. Agencies involved in the ensuing property inspection included county Environmental Health, the California Department of Fish and Game, Lake County Community Development Department, Building Division, Planning Division, and the Lake County Sheriff's Office, county document show.
Numerous violations of the Uniform Building Code, International Property Maintenance Code, California Health and Safety Code, Public Resource Code, California Penal Code, Lake County Code and the Lake County Zoning Ordinance were discovered, according to Code Enforcement's report.
Then, this past November, county staff conducted an overflight of the property which “revealed, for the first time, the true extent of the violations on this property,” county documents report.
The pictures show fields littered with piles of old appliances, junk vehicles and rusted equipment, uninhabitable mobile homes, mountains of green waste littered with debris spread across several acres, household trash, scrap metal and wood, storage tanks and tires.
Code Enforcement sent Fowler a new notice of nuisance, and the Building Department also issued a notice and order, according to a county report.
At the same time, the Environmental Health Division issued a notice of violation to Fowler that required him to stop receiving the green waste, remove the materials and submit a work plan complete with “sufficient detail to show that all material will be completely removed to a permitted facility in an orderly fashion,” Jamie Cameron-Harley, information officer for the California Integrated Waste Management Board, told Lake County News.
Cameron Harley added that the notice also included “penalties that could occur if such direction is not taken.”
After a Dec. 13 site visit showed that Fowler still was not complying with the orders, Code Enforcement issued a notice to abate the nuisance.
Ruminski says his department is working closely with Code Enforcement on the case.
Over and above Code Enforcement and Environmental Health's efforts, Ruminski said, “There may be some more formal enforcement on Mr. Fowler.”
Fowler has a deadline this month to give Environmental Health a plan on how he is going to clean up the property, said Ruminski.
If he submits a plan, Ruminski said Environmental Health will evaluate it to see if it will realistically address the issues.
“If he doesn't reply satisfactorily, our next step is to try and see if the district attorney will file a case,” he said.
That's just one option of dealing with Fowler's situation, said Ruminski. That possible prosecution may or may not include fines and penalties, he added.
Focus remains on Fowler
While Ruminski said there are issues for both the City of Lakeport and Lakeport Disposal in the case, it's Charles Fowler who is ultimately the focus of much of the enforcement.
Fowler's responsibility, however, is clouded by the issue of his current health issues.
His daughter Sara Fowler, who grew up on the property and today is a winemaker living in St. Helena, explained that during the last several months her father has battled serious health conditions, including having a tumor removed from his pituitary gland.
Those health problems, she said, have left him in a wheelchair and unable to deal with the cleanup.
She said land has been in the Fowler family for six generations, and she is now trying to purchase the land from her father and clean it up.
Because he was in the hospital, Sara Fowler said her father did not receive the letters from Code Enforcement that were delivered by certified mail.
Charles Fowler, according to his daughter, is a longtime organic farmer, and a former board member of California Certified Organic Farmers. Grapes, pears and cattle are grown on the ranch.
For years he's followed organic practices, Sara Fowler said, including using the dead fish brought from local carp shoots to enrich his property's soil.
Since he's been undergoing medical care, Sara Fowler said her father has started to realize the magnitude of the issues with the land, and doesn't know how things have gotten to their current situation.
Sara Fowler agreed that the ranch is a “disaster,” and said she wants to work with the county in order to comply with their cleanup demands. “He can't do it on his own,” she said of her father.
She added that people who have been living in one of the old mobiles are moving out.
She said that she's taking “baby steps” as she attempts to fully understand how to resolve the issues with her family's property.
Tomorrow, Lakeport Disposal explains its part in the Fowler story; the City of Lakeport responds to Environmental Health's concerns; state officials explain the importance of local control in solid waste issues.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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