CLEARLAKE ? A five-year battle with the owner of property deemed as a nuisance has culminated with Code Enforcement receiving authorization to proceed with its order to abate. Property owner Grant Meyer has hit the city from every angle in effort to avoid cleaning up his property, which is located at 3981 Pine Avenue in Clearlake.
The Clearlake City Council authorized abatement following an Order to Show Cause Hearing that took place June 19. Authorization was granted on a 4-1 vote count with Councilmember Joyce Overton casting the dissenting vote.
“I have a problem with abating a building that I do believe could be fixed,” Overton stated. “I would like to discuss the portion of his home basically, because that is a home that can be fixed. It may have some structural and some things that need to be done, but I”m not comfortable saying we may tear down his house.
“It”s not livable, I understand that, but I”m not willing to take a bulldozer in there and just tear it down,” Overton concluded.
Meyer”s property has been the subject of Code Enforcement”s attention since June 2003, at which time the property was red-tagged due to unsafe living conditions. According to Code Enforcement”s report, the initial inspection revealed a huge accumulation of trash and debris as well as dilapidated structures. An illegal connection to electric service was also noticed.
Code Enforcement”s report lists, in chronological order, the department”s efforts to receive compliance. The report details numerous site visits from June 2003 through Dec. 7, 2005, which indicate that no corrective actions had been taken. The report states that on Dec. 18, 2005 Lake County Fire Protection District (LCFPD) responded to a structure fire at the property. Upon investigation the fire district determined the cause of the fire was due to unsafe electrical wiring, which was being supplied to the structure illegally.
Site visits continued through the year 2006 into April 2007. On June 11, 2007 a citizen”s complaint was filed against Meyer”s property.
According to the report, LCFPD assisted in inspecting the property and deemed it to be a fire and safety hazard; PG&E was again called out to remove service from the property.
Throughout the ordeal, Meyer has claimed city documents to be illegally posted and authorized. He has also said that violations were not clearly described in the notices of violation that he”s received. Code Enforcement as well as building department personnel had reportedly attempted to discuss the violations with Meyer; however Meyer had failed to cooperate or allow officers and inspectors access to the property.
Per his request, a detailed letter was sent to Meyer in Sept. 2007 notifying him of all violations existing on his property and what needed to be done to correct the violations. However, during the recent hearing on June 19, he claimed the violations were still unclearly described.
Councilmember Overton was alone in her assessment of the situation.
Councilmember Roy Simon has been against granting Meyer any additional time for compliance from the start. “As I have stated before, we have to clean up these kinds of places. It”s to protect the resident as well as the people who service it. I would hate to see a fireman or policeman injured or killed trying to save somebody”s life on property like that. We have to take steps to clean these places up before that happens,” Simon said.
“If we don”t abate this property totally, we are going to set this example that anyone can move into this city and create a dump in any neighborhood they want. I don”t like that idea. I say abate,” he said.
Mayor Curt Giambruno also reiterated a statement he”s made in the past. “This gentleman has five years to clean the property up. He has ignored it.” Giambruno added, “I have used this term at one other hearing with Grant Meyer, ?He”s played this city like a banjo.” I don”t believe we should play with this any longer.”
Councilmember Judy Thein said she was unwilling to put the public at risk in allowing this situation to continue. “I”ve listened to all this here and I feel the burden of proof has been proven. These are severe nuisance conditions. These are health and safety issues and I”m not willing to risk the lives of innocent people and those individuals who live in the surrounding area,” Thein stated.
Councilmember Chuck Leonard also indicated his opposition to continue the matter. “I”ve listened to this before. I”ve heard Grant Meyer say before he”s not clear what needs to be abated and he”s been told many times,” Leonard said.
“A rational person could not look at that property and not see what some of the problems are. What we need to do, if the property hasn”t been cleaned and it”s evident to me at this time that it has not, and that is a clear danger, it needs to be abated,” he said.
Contact Denise Rockenstein at drockenstein@clearlakeobserver.com.
