LAKEPORT — Less than a year after adopting a nuisance abatement ordinance aimed at getting more property owners to clear hazardous vegetation on their lots to reduce wildfire risk, the Lake County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday reviewed the enforcement of its new regulations.
At the same meeting, the board reviewed a similar project consisting of a group of four zones of benefit voted into effect by property owners in the Rivieras region of Lake County at about the same time as the hazardous vegetation ordinance. These zones of benefit culled one-time fees from property owners within and adjacent to the borders of four homeowners associations in order to enforce vegetation abatement rules.
As the lead employee on both programs, code enforcement officer Andrew Williams updated the board on his department’s progress in the past season, and asked for direction on how to proceed this year.
Last year, Williams and his team of about three code enforcement officers inspected roughly 2,000 properties for nuisance abatement compliance. They sent out “courtesy letters” to those properties that were found not to have met the requirements of the ordinance, then conducted re-inspections. At this point, Williams has indicated, many property owners were already working to clean up their parcels.
To those that had made no progress, Williams’ team mailed another round of letters to notify them that if they did not start working to clean their land up within 30 days, they could be fined and charged for county-contracted abatement work, pursuant to the ordinance. Nearly 400 of these letters were mailed; approximately 50 were returned as undeliverable.
At the same time, code enforcement officers were inspecting properties and sending letters within the Riviera benefit zones, which include Buckingham, Riviera Heights, Riviera West, and Clear Lake Riviera.
From start to finish, about 75 percent of property owners that came under the radar of the code enforcement team have since become compliant, according to Williams.
To date, the county has not had any abatement work performed on non-compliant properties, for which it would later charge the property owner, as it is authorized to do under the new law.
This year, Williams said following Tuesday’s meeting, such abatements are very likely to happen, especially within the benefit zones in the Rivieras. “For sure,” he said of abatements in those areas.
The code enforcement team will not have to repeat its process of mailing letters to the same properties as last year, potentially speeding up the process. But the question of how much the process can be quickened was still under review on Tuesday, according to Williams.
District 2 Supervisor Bruno Sabatier had spoken in support of shortening the two 30-day windows within which code enforcement officers had been allowing property owners to comply before potentially facing fines.
“60 days, I believe we can shorten that,” Sabatier said, calling for “no more than 30 days” of total time allowed. “I don’t want to paper push, I want to see results,” he said.
Williams said he plans to review the ordinance to determine how much that timeframe can be shortened. During the board meeting, he noted that a 30-day window would be possible for his team, so long as it is legally allowed.
The ordinance does not mandate that the county send courtesy letters to property owners before sending notices of violation, but it does allow 30 days from the mailing of an abatement notice for a property owner to comply.
Concerns were raised on Tuesday that property owners are often confused about what brush clearing work is required in order for them to comply with the law.
Local property owner Lance Williams asked for more clarity from the county. “It seems like there was a gray area where, if you need to clear (a large area) right now, it doesn’t seem feasible.”
“This ordinance is going to have to evolve,” said County Counsel Anita Grant, noting that it may need “additional clarity.”
“Actions on the ground are the great equalizer for what makes sense,” she said.
