DATE: October 11, 2016
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Steven E. White, Director
Department of Public Works and Planning
SUBJECT: Code Enforcement - Priorities in Enforcement
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
TITLE
Consider and direct staff regarding enforcement of non-life/safety code violations.
REPORT
This item comes before the Board based upon direction received during consideration of an item on May 10, 2016 regarding proposed revisions to the County's Administrative Fine Ordinance in which the Board directed staff to return to discuss non-life/safety code violations.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(s):
Determine not to provide direction to staff in which case the County existing code enforcement process would remain unchanged. It should be noted that pursuant to previous Board direction, staff continues to hold in abeyance all code enforcement activities related to accessory structure setbacks and fence violation.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Preparation of this Agenda Item and associated activities represents a Net County Cost that is included as part of the Department's code enforcement activities, which is budgeted in the Public Works and Planning Org 4360 Adopted Budget.
DISCUSSION:
The Department of Public Works and Planning, Development Services Division, is responsible for the enforcement of State and County Ordinances and Building Codes relating to health and safety. One of the main goals of the County's Code Enforcement Program is to bring to the attention of residential and business owners any existing Ordinance or Code Violation which could have a negative impact on safety or their neighborhood.
Staff's goal and approach in addressing outstanding code violations is to gain voluntary compliance. To this end, if a property owner is making reasonable efforts to resolve a violation, staff will hold in abeyance all enforcement efforts, including the issuance of citations. Only when a property owner fails to address the outstanding code violation will staff use the a...
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