How to resolve AdBlock issue? At its meeting last Tuesday, the board received an extensive report on the Community Development Department’s enforcement of the ordinance from Code Enforcement Manager Andy Williams and Chief Building Official David Casian.
The supervisors passed the first reading of the new hazardous vegetation ordinance on March 19 and approved the second and final reading of it on March 26. It went into effect on April 25.
The ordinance, No. 3082, is located in Lake County Code Chapter 13, Article VIII, Section 13-57 to 13-67. It can be found here.
Williams said inspections began immediately, with four inspectors – three Code Enforcement officers and one building official – going into the field in early May.
He said they started in the Clearlake Riviera, and moved through the Rivieras to Soda Bay, Middletown, Anderson Springs and Cobb, making a total of 2,000 site visits.
As they made their way through those communities, Williams said they found that most owners of improved properties were out doing hazardous abatement work during their inspections, and were either in compliance or met the requirements later on.
He said a large number of people did not understand the new ordinance or how to become compliant but did after education by inspectors, which led to compliance being accomplished in most cases.
Cal Fire does property inspections on improved properties on a three-year rotation, while homeowners associations do their own inspections on unimproved and improved properties inspections, Williams said.
This year, county staff and Cal Fire will do a beta test with computer-based inspection software for improved properties. It’s hoped that they will avoid the overlap that they encountered last year, when county staff completed inspections in some areas only to have Cal Fire come into the same areas after them.
“We’re working on that issue. I’m hoping this year there won’t be so much overlap, if any,” Williams said.
When a property is found to be noncompliant, a courtesy letter with a link to the county’s hazardous vegetation ordinance is sent out and the owner is given a 30-day window to become compliant, Williams explained.
If the work isn’t done voluntarily, the property owner gets an abatement notice with another 30 days to become compliant. If that next deadline isn’t met, Williams said possible abatement action is taken based on several factors including topography, fuel load, and life and safety concerns.
In 2019, temperatures increased early in the fire season, humidities dropped and winds picked up, which Williams said made abatement very unsafe. “So we did not abate any properties this year through our program.”
Williams said the county sent out 378 notices of abatement, with 47 returned undeliverable. He said the inspectors use the tax roll to get mailing information.
Of those notices that did make it to the owners, Williams said they had 75 percent compliance with the ordinance.
“Unimproved properties are the real challenges,” due to absentee owners, deceased owners, large properties and owners not understanding ordinances, he said.
For this year, Williams suggested prioritizing areas starting with improved properties and unimproved properties within 30 feet of any structure or egress/evacuation routes.
He proposed starting with Cobb Mountain, Anderson Springs, the Clearlake Riviera, Riviera West, Buckingham, Riviera Heights, and the urban interface around Lakeport and the Northshore.
This year, Williams has one full-time experienced Code Enforcement officer assigned to hazardous vegetation as well as extra help, with inspections set to begin this month.
Due to the large area they need to cover and the short amount of time before fire season starts – along with their other work – Williams asked for the board’s direction on how to move forward.
During the update, Williams told the board that his department needs more funding in order to enforce the ordinance. “It’s a daunting, daunting prospect, but we are moving forward,” he said, adding they are “spread very, very thin.”
Williams said he currently has three Code Enforcement officers and is interviewing a fourth. When asked by Supervisor Tina Scott how many he would need in a perfect world, he responded, “At least 10.”
Supervisor Bruno Sabatier said he wanted to shorten the 60-day abatement process and assess stiff fines. He suggested that those properties for which the abatement letters were returned may be in tax default, and could be prioritized and put up for tax sale more quickly.
Like Supervisor Rob Brown, Sabatier said he wanted Code Enforcement staff to focus on vegetation management until the fire season starts, at which point they can switch their attention to cannabis compliance.
Brown said the last several years of wildland fires have left a burn scar and fire line that circles almost the entire county. He said there is a little bit of time before the vegetation comes back in the fire scar.
He said he’s concerned about the areas that haven’t burned and don’t have a fire line, including the Rivieras and Buckingham, where 20 percent of the county’s residents live. Benefit zones approved by several of those communities last year have raised funding to do abatements if necessary, it was reported during the meeting.
For the abatements in the other parts of the county, Williams said they have less than $50,000 left. Community Development Director Michalyn DelValle said they will be asking for more money for abatement at the midyear budget review.
During public comment, Ken Kelsen, the fire safety coordinator for the Clear Lake Riviera Community Association, said the association is doing its own inspections on improved and unimproved properties. He said they are working with both Code Enforcement and Cal Fire and will be participating in a training class with those agencies on the property inspection software.
Kelsen said the association’s efforts are yielding results: Two years ago when he started they had 500 parcels rated as high for fire concerns, this year they have less than 100.
“We are making great strides,” Kelsen said.
Greg Scott, a retired fire official, said they needed to target their audience for their education efforts, suggesting sending the message out in schools and youth organizations in order for it to reach parents.
Last year, the largest fire in Lake County was 58 acres, Scott pointed out, noting that the county had 31 inches of rain during the rainy season so heavy fuels didn’t have a chance to dry out like normal.
He also suggested getting state legislators to start increasing fines on the state level so Cal Fire can work more efficiently along with the county.
During the discussion it was noted by community member Lance Williams that the ordinance still didn’t seem very clear in its requirements.
County Counsel Anita Grant said there was extensive public input on the ordinance, which, she noted, “is going to have to evolve as circumstances evolve.”
She said there also have been changes to fire safe rules at the state level. “Actions on the ground are the great equalizer for what makes sense.”
The board reached a consensus to support more education and consider shortening the abatement time frame, and prioritizing areas such as the Rivieras.
Brown said he wanted to make sure the work got done. “I don’t want to be having this discussion at some point that the Rivieras and Buckingham burned to the ground because we dropped the ball. I’m just going to leave it at that. That is my priority.”
The board also received a brief update from Williams on enforcement of vegetation abatement in the benefit zones for the Clearlake Riviera, Buckingham, Riviera West and Riviera Heights.
Williams said he had a list of 52 properties across the four benefit zones and personally inspected them all. Thirty-day abatement letters have been sent to all of them and, in the interim, he will contact contractors to get bids for abatement in case compliance isn’t voluntary.
He said he hoped by the end of March or the first week of April that this phase of the abatement work will be done. After that, if there isn’t compliance, they will need to prepare to write up affidavits and take them to a judge in order to proceed with abatements.
It was reported during the meeting that the county has so far collected more than $200,000 from property owners in the benefit zones. Those funds will be used to fund abatements, with the money to be recouped with liens.
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