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Home My WebLink About2005/07/11 Board of Appeals & Advisors Minutes " MINUTES OFA REGULAR MEETING BOARD OF APPEALS AND ADVISORS CITY OF CHULA VISTA, CALIFORNIA July 11, 2005 Conference Room No. 1 5:15 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: Vice-Chair Nagorski, Members Flach, Snider and Monaghan MEMBERS ABSENT: Chair Romo MEMBERS ABSTAINING: None CITY STAFF PRESENT: Building Official Brad Remp, Code Enforcement Manager Doug Leeper, Sr. Code Enforcement Officers Don Johnson and J.R. Provencher, and Secretary Judi Bell OTHERS PRESENT: None CALL MEETING TO ORDER: Vice-Chairman Nagorski called the meeting to order at 5:20 p.m. ROLL CALL: Members present constituted a quorum. 1. DECLARATION OF EXCUSED/UNEXCUSED ABSENTEEISM: Romo (U) 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: MSU Snider/Flach (4-0) to approve the minutes of regular meeting of June 13,2005. 3. NEW BUSINESS: A. Status of Code Enforcement Operations: A presentation of the Code Enforcement Program by Doug Leeper, Code Enforcement Manager: The-code enforcement program consists of a Community Improvement Program, Housing Program and the Abandoned Vehicle Abatement (AVA) Program. Typical violations include trash, junk and debris, building without permits, illegal signs, and illegal uses of occupancies in abandoned buildings. Reactive code enforcement has been the core of code enforcement efforts. It is complaint driven. We receive about 2000+ complaints each year. The average officer has about 46 open cases. W e do not accept anonymous complaints because if people just call in and hang up we are unable to update them as to whether or not their complaint is a violation, let them know what the status is, and when they can anticipate results. This also prevents neighbors calling in on each other. We do not divulge the name of complainants. Reactive code enforcement has an emphasis on voluntary compliance. We want to educate and ask people to comply. Routinely 80% of the cases are closed within 30 days of the receipt of the complaint. Multiple remedies are available to us, i.e. administrative citations, civil penalties, full cost recovery. We have a new Deputy City Attorney, Deborah Cave, who is assigned specifically to Code Enforcement. In some cases criminal prosecution may be a viable alternative and receivership, which is where we would petition the court to put a separate party in charge of a property Board of Appeals and Advisors July 11, 2005 Page Two that is being mismanaged or mishandled. The court can actually appoint an independent third party to manage this property.. In order to bring it up to compliance, they have the availability to obtain permits and take out loans against the property. That would be a very severe case in order for unto do it, but it is another remedy we are pursuing. Our Proactive Enforcement Program is the Community Improvement Program which is focused on reducing blight. We are trying to achieve a community partnership. This program gets the code enforcement officers out on the streets and into the businesses, shaking hands, knocking on doors, educating people as to what needs to be done to comply with the Municipal Code. The intent is to alleviate blight and improve the business and residential quality of life in particular areas. An officer will take a section of their particular beat, identify it as needing some improvement and then work on that particular area for some time. There are four distinct beats for the traditional code enforcement officer. The beats run from east to west so they get a full slice of the City from one end of the city limits to the other. An officer is assigned to each one of those beats. Currently, officers are finishing up their second and some are in their third community sweep. We have had a high rate of voluntary compliance with this program. Out of 150 businesses inspected, 138 check lists were sent out where there were deficiencies and 97 have been abated and brought into compliance. Other enforcement methods are being used to encourage and motivate them to come into compliance as well. Main Street had 40 businesses inspected with 29 checklists sent, and 13 have been abated; Third Avenue north had 130 businesses inspected, 45 checklists sent and 25 abated; Third Avenue south had 47 businesses inspected with 13 checklists and 11 abated. Benefits of the proactive program are better communication between city government and business owners. We're building a relationship with these owners to help them have amore successful business, thus reducing the "fear factor". They now know someone and there is dialogue. The Housing Inspection Program deals with hotels/motels, apartment complexes and mobile home parks. The goal is to inspect all 26 motels (1524) rooms annually to improve our image with tourists and our own community. We have had our second annual inspection. Twenty-two of our motels are in compliance, two are currently in violation, but are working towards compliance. Two have been closed. The Apartment Inspection Program goal is to inspect all complexes in the city every seven years for health and safety and confirm minimum housing standards with the state mandated program to preserve affordable housing. More than 700 complexes with more than 18,000 units exist within the city limits of Chula Vista currently. The results of this program are that 325 complexes have been inspected to date, a little under 4000 units. The mobile home park inspection program's goal is to inspect the 32 mobile home parks every seven years and we are ahead of that. In comparing compliance with the minimum California state standards, the results to date are that we have 10 parks with 1128 spaces inspected, about 1 park per month. We are receiving a high level of cooperation from the park owners as well as the tenants. 415 notices of Board of Appeals and AdJisors July 11, 2005 Page Three violation: 182 have been abated. Mostly are minor violations. We have identified some safety issues that affect the whole park. Many of our parks are 50 to 60 years old and the infrastructure is no longer viable. The Abandoned Vehicle Abatement Program has been successful. We have one officer who works exclusively on this program. 93% voluntary compliance in 2004; 1,031 abated throughout the City; we have surpassed that this year at 1105. Over 1000 for four years running. We don't deal with anything parked on public streets. The police department takes care of that. Our organization chart shows that we are fully staffed. In addition to our Deputy City Attorney, we now have Michael Walker, a Sr. Planner assigned to Code Enforcement to help us with the research issues and interpretation issues with the code as to what is and isn't legal, what was and what wasn't legal and where we can go from there. Conditional Use Permit enforcement has been somewhat lacking. We're getting more involved with that process through our PermitsPlus tracking system to periodically schedule inspections on locations that are operating under a CUP. Discussion and Questions: Mr. Flach asked if there was a change in height requirements for a fence in the front yard setback. Mr. Remp stated that this question is one reason we now have a Senior Planner working specifically for the code enforcement section. Mr. Snider asked if there was a limit to the number of vehicles that one residence can have parked in driveway and street. There is no limit as long as they are legally parked, operable and are moved every 72 hours. 4. CHAIRMAN'S COMMENTS/REPORT: None 5. BUILDING OFFICIAL'S COMMENTS/REPORT: Code Enforcement closed one ofthe restaurants on Third Avenue on July 1. They had done some construction work without a permit and they needed a fire sprinkler system and they had not installed one and didn't have any authorization for using that facility. They promised to come into code for about a year. They finally came in to get a permit and then we found out that theyfraudulently obtained the permit. Now they are very anxious to be able to open again. The City Manager and City Council has provided support over the last several months to be more aggressive in these areas. If they have questions they contact us for an explanation, but they are not providing any direction to us to back off, they are saying this is what you're supposed to do. W e are encouraged by that. This code enforcement presentation was one of the presentations that the board had asked for. In our next meeting or the one following, we will ask the Deputy City Attorney and the Assistant Director of Planning to come in and do a presentation of conflict of interest issues. We have two open positions on this Board. There are applications in the Mayor's office which are being reviewed. 6. COMMUNICATIONS (PUBLIC REMARKS/WRITTEN CORRESPONDENCE): None Board of Appeals and Advisors ~ July 11, 2005 - Page Four 7. ADJOURNMENT: Vice-Chair Nagorski adjourned the meeting at 6:15p.m. to a regular meeting on August 8, 2005. BRAD REMP, C.B.O. ASST. DIR. OF PLANNING & BUILDING /BUILDING OFFICIAL SECRETARY TO THE BOARD OF APPEALS AND ADVISORS Q,A~ ~ ,~p~,~ MI TES TAKEN BY: JUDI BELL SECRETARY PLANNING & BUILDING DEPARTMENT (J:\ Board of Appeals & Advisors FY 2005-2006\07.11.2005m.doc)