Risk Management Zones
Last Thursday night, Dist. 5 Supervisor, Rob Brown, presented a proposal that would create four separate County Service Area Zones of Benefit (also being called a Risk Management Zones) to provide funding to address dangerous vegetation hazards in the communities of Clear Lake Riviera, Riviera West, Riviera Heights and Buckingham.
District 4 Supervisor, Tina Scott, who represents Riviera Heights, also participated in the discussion. This funding is primarily for abatement to deal with the numerous private parcel landowners who have been unwilling to be responsible for managing their overgrown properties. As many have stated, abatement is just a part of a fire prevention puzzle that has many moving pieces. Yes, we need more prescription burning, safe and clear evacuation corridors, enforcement prior to abatement, defensible space education, purging the county’s tax defaulted properties that are fire hazards with higher priority, better communication/alerts, etc. Like I said, there are many moving pieces and we all need to realize that we’re talking about changing cultural concepts of what it means to live in hazardous fire areas.
Right now there is no realistic path to abatement without understanding it will require funding. All four home owner associations, who have been working together for some time, have met with Supervisor Brown to discuss solutions. This proposal gets the county into the vegetation fire hazard abatement process, which is badly needed. $500,000, or more, for 5,000 parcels is a good start. It does not solve everything, but it is seriously important. It addresses properties that the HOAs have had continued issues with, both within and outside the boundaries of the HOAs. There is not enough HOA funding, in any one of the associations alone, that can solve the numerous abatement needs. Continuing to work together with the county, we can get something done. It will not happen overnight but there are many determined voices that are growing daily. Like the woman said on Thursday night. “I bet the people of Paradise would have loved to have paid $100 and not have the fire they have now.” This proposal, in my opinion, is a no brainer. I support it wholeheartedly.
There are two final issues that I would like to address. The Board of Supervisors, with the direction of Supervisor Jim Steele, County Counsel, Anita Grant, and County Code enforcement are moving forward with an amendment to the County Code to effectively create a better ordinance to enforce those property owners who do not meet required fire hazard guidelines. This ordinance will create a real 100 ft. defensible space for homeowners and their surrounding properties. We can’t wait to just abate. We have to get to these properties before they are a severe danger. This will also help. Please support, and encourage our supervisors to support, this new ordinance that is being put together by the county’s fire chiefs. Finally, we seriously need to be looking into working with Cal Fire to create grant funding to bring back prescription burning. Prescription Burn Plans are extremely important pieces of the solution. They used to happen regularly on Mt. Konocti but because of the California Environmental Quality Act’s (CEQA) extensive requirements, passed liabilities and lengthened fire seasons, there is a hesitancy to readdress this practice. It needs to be examined again. Thanks for the opportunity to comment!
—Tom Nixon, Clear Lake Riviera
Don’t blame PG&E
Forty million people have invaded my state, changed environmental law in the name of protecting it it and walked away with out maintaining the forest or chaparral. These so called environmentalists made it so expensive to lease government land that no one can make a profit grazing cattle or sheep. One hundred and fifty saw mills shut down and thousands of people were put out of work.
These horrific fires are a direct result of environmental law making it illegal for land owners to care for their own land and impossible to do anything for state or federal land (public lands). The uneducated people of the past were better stewards of the ecosystem than today’s educated people because their lives depended on it. Thousands of homes and may lives are lost each year because our politicians are ignoring Mother Nature. Hell has no fury as a scorned woman!
It’s time to sit down with politicians, environmentalists and industry leaders and revisit environmental law.
Climate change is a world wide concern and I do believe the world better wise up soon but as a state and county we must do a better job maintaining our ecosystem! And that means changing environmental law. Now!!!
—Joe G. Welz, Clearlake Oaks.
