Bad news for bad neighbors: San Diego County hiking code enforcement fines - by a lot
By: GIG CONAUGHTON - Staff Writer | ∞
SAN DIEGO -- Stiffer punishments are on the way for the backcountry's worst neighbors -- people who have turned their properties into junk yards, eyesores, health nuisances, illegal businesses or dumping grounds.
County supervisors are dramatically jacking up the fines that code enforcement officers can impose on major violators of county nuisance codes.
Some rural community officials say the plan was just a way for the county to line its pockets, but county officials say the increased penalties are needed because some violators simply ignore the current modest fines -- daring the county to take costly court actions.
Instead of the current fines that start at $100 per notification and cap at $10,000 a year, officers will be able to hand out fines starting at $1,000 a day with a $50,000-a-year cap. Those fines could swell to $2,500 a day, or up to $125,000 a year, if the violations also break state laws instead of just county ordinances.
The fines won't replace the old fines, but would be added to deal with small numbers of extreme offenders, county officials said. The fines would affect unincorporated communities. Cities have their own code enforcement laws.
County officials said last week that the current fines are small enough that major violators -- code violators who could be earning money from illegal businesses -- either pay them and refuse to clean up, or ignore them altogether.
Tim Kirkland, code enforcement supervisor for North County, said his office has about 24 cases that could be targeted by the new fines. Kirkland said he thinks the levies will force the hard cases to clean up.
"Oh yeah," he said. "It will make it much easier. Because, usually, money talks."
Skeptics say fines are excessive
Not everyone is crazy about the idea of higher fines. Supervisors approved the changes Aug. 1, but are scheduled to give them final approval Sept. 19.
Leaders in Ramona and Lakeside said the new fines were just a way for the county to line its pockets with new cash.
"This is another layer of government and an opportunity to increase the county's ability to remove us from our money," said Helene Radzik, chairwoman of the Ramona Community Planning Group.
Other community officials disagree.
"We certainly have folks in Fallbrook under the current system that it isn't until the third or fourth notice that you get their attention -- that's a long time to be causing your neighbors problems," said Jim Russell, the longtime head of Fallbrook's advisory planning group. "As long as (the county is) not hammering minor violations I have no problem with it. It sounds like a reasonable thing to do."
When county supervisors enthusiastically gave their initial approval for the new fines Aug. 1, a couple of them suggested that fine money could be used to hire more county code enforcement officers.
The department has long been considered understaffed and overworked. The division responds to 4,000 community complaints a year, with a staff of roughly 14 code enforcement officers, six in North County, Code Enforcement Chief Pam Elias said last week.
But Elias and Chandra Wallar, director of the county's land use division that oversees code enforcement, said in separate interviews that the new fines were not about raising money, they were about fixing a problem.
They said most code enforcement complaints deal with small issues and can be handled relatively quickly. Those cases would still result in modest fines.
"A cost of doing business'
But Elias said some violations are complicated. They can involve people establishing unpermitted businesses, such as automobile repair and landscaping. Elias said in situations like those, violators may need to apply to the county's department of planning and land use for permits. That process, she said, could cost several thousand dollars. Paying the fines with promises to take care of the problem, or ignoring the fines altogether can be cheaper than complying.
"People are paying the fines as a cost of doing business," Elias said.
Wallar said the biggest problem for the county is when violators ignore the county. Then, the county is forced to take offenders to court, an expensive process for the county and taxpayers.
"Officers have to be ready to testify in court," Wallar said. "We have pretty limited staffing in code enforcement as it is. (Then) you have to take time away from other cases."
Rick Smith, chairman of the Lakeside Community Planning Group -- which, like Ramona, strongly opposed the increased fines -- said the county's code enforcement division "had sufficient tools" to deal with scofflaws and had no business hiking fines in order to avoid court cases.
"I'm sorry, but I thought it was our right to go to court," Smith said. "They're just looking for an easier way out."
Wallar, however, said the county and its taxpayers, needed more financial muscle to handle the complaints they get from the public.
"This is truly for those individuals who are basically thumbing their nose at any enforcement," Wallar said.
Eyesore
Last week, Elias and Kirkland toured a property in a rural but upscale area on Andreen Road in Valley Center. County code enforcement officers don't go out searching for problems, but instead respond to community complaints.
Elias said the case they were dealing with involved a land owner in Poway who had been notified two weeks earlier that the area needed to be cleaned up. Elias said the property owner promised the problems would be fixed, and that the new fines would probably not have to be used. But the site was the kind that could be targeted if property owners refused to comply.
"You have some really nice properties out here and then there's this," Elias said, pointing to a 1970's-era abandoned mobile home, several abandoned cars, bulldozers and trash -- lots of trash.
A jackrabbit skittered out from under the front porch as Elias and Kirkland approached the open front door. Inside was stained and molding brown carpeting, a broken picture window, rat feces, toys, children's clothes, an old television set and spider webs in a sink that no longer had running water.
Out back, junk and garbage were stacked several inches high against the porch. The yard was strewn with trash, beer bottles, a disintegrating washer, dryer and jacuzzi shell. There was a makeshift greenhouse, fashioned by haphazardly spreading white plastic sheeting over a bare-bones wooden structure. Beyond that lay a few junked cars. Farther down, there was an abandoned camper -- without the truck -- and a spot where revelers, squatters or previous tenants had set a bonfire in the midst of dry weeds, parched trees and scrub.
A hundred yards away, several upscale homes stared straight down upon the eyesore.
Elias said the county was trying to work with the owner by offering to remove the abandoned cars free of charge.
But she said in cases in which property owners refuse to work with the county, the new fines will give code enforcement officers more teeth.
"Much more teeth," Elias said. "It means we can fine them right off the bat $1,000 a day, whereas with administrative citations we have to work our way up to that."
-- Contact staff writer Gig Conaughton at (760) 739-6696 or gconaughton@nctimes.com.
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nimbys wrote on Sep 3, 2007 9:47 PM:why move to the countryside to an upscale home if you can't handle the ma and pa type of living along side of you? Granted this place sounded like a true health hazard and needs to be cleaned up but watch out if you have a clothesline! Chicken ranches and dairy farms beware, there is no more farm land in California, just neighboring land to upscale homes.
Kent wrote on Sep 3, 2007 9:56 PM:I live in the county. Got a neighbor right across the street whose whole property is nothing but junk and nothing up to code, including his son living in a trailer house that they probably are not even paying taxes on. Recently, the property owner on the other side had to ask them to get his junk off of his property. So bring on the fines, I say.
Landscaping business wrote on Sep 3, 2007 10:30 PM:Ok, so now we can stop a neighbor in our cul-de-sac who has up to 10 people living in his house who work as landscapers, they have their trucks parked there in the street, about 8, sometimes 10, they just recently converted an extra garage to a room. Yes, they are breaking at least 5 major codes. I can't wait to call the enforcement office. LET'S GET THEM !!!
Greg in Oceanside wrote on Sep 3, 2007 11:15 PM:It's high time the junk collectors and multiple-family dwelling are dealt with. Too often people move to the "country" to live like hillbillies with junk cars and business equipment piled up on their properties. It's not just an eye-sore, but a hazard. The time is now to enforce laws and clean up the act.
John E wrote on Sep 4, 2007 6:41 AM:I am extremely concerned about maintaining a reasonable balance between private property rights and neighborhood health and safety. I choose to live in an older neighborhood without CC&Rs, and I hate to see the county turned into one big planned community. My sons and I do much of our own automobile repair and maintenance work, and, horror or horrors, we save energy by using a solar clothes dryer, otherwise known as a clothesline. Code enforcement is all well and good, but the proposed fines sound excessive and the system is subject to abuse of power.
Avg Joe wrote on Sep 4, 2007 6:43 AM:This problem is not exclusive to "back country" homes. Enforce this in the city too. Also, as said before, do something about the "ten people" to a house problem.
Keith wrote on Sep 4, 2007 7:25 AM:Its about time they get serious about cleaning up san diego's back country. Get the trash out!
What? wrote on Sep 4, 2007 7:31 AM:SD fines people for junk yard appearance, but SD continues to allow illegal Migrants to trash our canyons with heaps of trash and enviromental hazardous material, yet say nothing about it. Give me a break!
PackRat wrote on Sep 4, 2007 7:41 AM:My 6 washers and 4 dryers are collector items.
cts wrote on Sep 4, 2007 7:49 AM:Who is going to argue against this?...The violators. A clothes line and a car being worked on is not a problem. It is when a car has been sitting for years and the junk piles up that you have a problem. $1,000 fine per day sounds about right to me!
Use it for shanty towns wrote on Sep 4, 2007 8:14 AM:Maybe they can use this new code and start fining the property owners who let shanty towns srping up in thier river beds. I wonder what the county will do when its THEIR property thats blighted.. fine themselves? LOL
MJS wrote on Sep 4, 2007 8:28 AM:Oceanside is such a beautiful place to live but I wonder why the city doesn't enforce many code violations, people with trailers in front and side yards, trash barrels out all week, skateboarders running wild in the streets, and night time noise in the neighborhoods. Enforcement could make this a much more beautiful and enjoyable city.
jim wrote on Sep 4, 2007 8:47 AM:I think san diego should start dealing with illegals , and enforce the renters code for landlords to not rent to illegals instead of dealing with people that have a few old cars in there drivways or have so called junk , one mans junk is anothers treasure!!!
Didn't.... wrote on Sep 4, 2007 9:08 AM:County Supervisor Bill Horn have a bunch of illegals and squatters camp crap strewn all over his ranch recently? A local TV news helicopter caught it all in detail live from the air. The next day the crap was all dismantled. Beside the hypocracy, it DOES underscore the serious lack of respect for the current fine structure. I also, strongly recommend that the County enact some strong legislation regarding these "Clown Houses" in the middle of planned residential housing developments. The illegal allien crowd are giving a big middle finger to their neighbors in these instances and have to be gone after. Multiple times have citizens in San Marcos asked the Council to do something and multiple times the City Attorney has come back to say that they have to find a way to do it "constitutionally". In the mean time ten cars sworm onto a single house at the end of a day. It's freakin' ridiculous!
tom wrote on Sep 4, 2007 9:18 AM:why aren't code comp officers pro-active?
just a thought wrote on Sep 4, 2007 9:54 AM:there is no question that all kinds of folks ignore the law, have trash build up etc. so don't start that discussion. But, if you address the ILLEGAL Immigrant problem first maybe it take care of many of the other problem by itself. Now if anyone thinks I'm just talking about Latinos, then your the racist. I'm saying ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS. Don't bellyache about the ants if you keep leaving food on the floor.
Goatskull to nimbys wrote on Sep 4, 2007 10:06 AM:Ma and Pa types are one thing, but when people let theire places go to crap then something needs to be done. A clothes line or working on your own car are fine and even a good idea. But letting the vehicle just sit there for ever and ever is another. 10 people living in one dwelling is just unacceptable.
Ted wrote on Sep 4, 2007 10:21 AM:Don't stop there, clean up everywhere!
Two birds with one stone wrote on Sep 4, 2007 10:46 AM: Get the landscaping / tree trimmers who operate out of their property and bring home their customers yard waste. They run their shredders (several hours)and scatter the yard waste over their property several feet high. Have Border Patrol come along and check ID's while you're there.
Lorin wrote on Sep 4, 2007 11:57 AM:Challenge those fines as unconstitutional as no one can be deprived of property without due process, only the legislature can write law and only the courts can punish offenders.
Show me the Money wrote on Sep 4, 2007 12:17 PM:Let's see, building down, home prices falling, less property tax receipts need more money let's raise fees! My big question is, if they don't go looking for violators what do they do all day and what are we paying these people to do. If we have to police our own neighborhoods can we get rid of these folks and save some tax money. BTW a rabbit running out from under a porch? Oh my what shall we do? I live in VC and can't get rid of them. I don't have a junky place either.
OCEANSIDE CITIZEN wrote on Sep 4, 2007 1:28 PM:Let's follow the County's lead and do the same thing here in Oceanside. Use the fine revenue to hire more code enforcement officers & to beef up that department. Those who create eyesores and worse, who park on their front lawns, who have trash in sight for all to see, etc., etc. are substantially lowering the quality of life for the rest of us.
Karl wrote on Sep 4, 2007 3:20 PM:OC, we don't need more code enforcement oficcers. We need the ones we have now to effectively enforce the existing codes. I agree with most posts here that seem to teeter on "get the rubbish out of my neighborhood" and "I hate to see the county turned into one big planned community". I personally was turned into CE because I scraped my front yard to bare dirt while building an addition in my backyard. If one of my neighbors had waited until the remodel was done I would have had a very nice tropical front yard. Since I had to hurry the project my front yard now consists of a lawn and 3 palm trees. If you have a neighbor that's yard is an eyesore, fill out the CE form available at all cities (they do not reveal the source of the complaint). For balance be sure you are not living in a glass house.
Own in both city and country wrote on Sep 4, 2007 3:26 PM:This article is propaganda for the NIBY’s that moved into the country. A car is not abandoned if it is on the owners property! My tractor in the country looks broken down to a city boy but runs just fine. Where is the owners side of the story? Sounds like incompetent journalism and editing. What North County Times executive has contributed to a supervisors campaign and just built a home in VC? Could another paper look into where the real story is here?
Weldon wrote on Sep 4, 2007 3:57 PM:Savages
To Lorin wrote on Sep 4, 2007 4:12 PM:Challenge the fines? How about be a good neighbor and clean up your fricken property!
Cathy wrote on Sep 4, 2007 6:01 PM:I have a neighbor who lives alone with three huge dogs and two cats. When she opens her garage door all the foul smell of urine and waist comes out. yaks! Garbage is left behind the pouch. Flies are seen around it.
Will this END The Shanty Towns... wrote on Sep 4, 2007 8:38 PM:of Illegal Immigrants?! Will The Illegal Immigrants Be Fined the Same?! If not, I'm COMPLTELY AGAINST Any Law like this.
Abuse of public office! wrote on Sep 5, 2007 1:06 AM: I am all for clean and orderly properties but that is not where this will stop. Nowhere in the article does it mention the actual wording of the new law or procedures for levying the new fines. It seems that Chandra Waller, Director of the county’s land use division that oversees code enforcement and Code enforcement Chief Pam Elias may have revealed more than they wanted to. "This is truly for those individuals who are basically thumbing their nose at any enforcement," Wallar said. If this is true then why did Elias say: "It means we can fine them right off the bat $1,000 a day, whereas with administrative citations we have to work our way up to that." As the code enforcement division uses these fines to hire more officers they will have to increasingly nitpick all of us with huge fines to keep themselves employed. Out of 4000 cases only 24 are problems that warrant these fines yet they can also be applied “right off the bat” Sounds like selective enforcement and persecution of the working man by the new wealthy “upscale” homeowners. It also sounds like the county is losing in court due to their poor interpretation of their own laws. Remember: All laws sound good when they only apply to the other guy…..
Blame the Victim wrote on Sep 5, 2007 1:11 AM:It sounds like that land owner was the victim of an migrant camp of illegal aliens. This is much more common that anyone that does not live in the back country can imagine. I have seen folks vacation cabins stripped of piping and wiring for scrap metal and then left in disgusting shape. So rather than the government do something about the transient criminals they chose to go after the hardworking taxpayer. It is time for term limits on our County Supervisors!
Own in both is right wrote on Sep 5, 2007 1:20 AM:This story is so biased I wonder what the real agenda of the NCT is here.
The codes are part of the problem wrote on Sep 5, 2007 1:23 AM:A ranch owner cannot build a barn unless he builds a house first. Thus all of his ranch equiptment is an "eyesore" for the "upscale" nimby's.... They should go back to the city and stay out of VC!
$1000 a day! wrote on Sep 5, 2007 1:27 AM:Serious health and safety violations in the work place rarely get that level of fine. The county is going to levy this for "nuisance" and "eyesore" violations.
Burn the witches at the stake wrote on Sep 5, 2007 1:36 AM:Vilify the one to be punished enough and even the most severe punishment will seem ok. Did the NCT talk to one of these evil landowners? Have any of you been down to the county offices and tried to get a straight answer from them? This story is so like the NCT it is so one sided.
Clean up the back country wrote on Sep 5, 2007 1:38 AM:If you want to clean up the back country scrape the Mc Mansions off of the hills!
Right off the Bat is NOT due process wrote on Sep 5, 2007 1:43 AM:This is not about cleaning up anything except cash. These County employees need to review the constution. Just wait until YOU get a letter....
I hope they create limitations, wrote on Sep 5, 2007 11:40 AM:specific limitations on how many children and adults can live in a 2 bedroom apt or condo. These people live like animals. Two adult women, and the owner who stays over occasionally, two little girls, and a supposed brother. They use far more water than anyone else in the complex and then invite their extended family over for all day pool parties. If we had the law on our side we could clean out the garbage people.
Freedom wrote on Sep 8, 2007 12:28 AM:I think anyone in the country should be able to have several junk cars. They give the owner something to hope for, that someday he can fix them. Maybe a washer and dryer or so out in the yard. The old rotting garbage should be buried or hauled away.
Freedom wrote on Sep 8, 2007 12:38 AM:Probably most of the people with the worse junk problems are seriously depressed, or are barely making enough to live poorly on. I think it is criminal to impose large fines on them. The city or county should pay for removing all abandoned cars free that were not owned by the property owner. There is a lot of red tape to getting rid of dumped cars. It is probably simple to only a few authorities who know the procedures. They should always do it for all who will agree to haver it done. If fact I know a scientist who bought an old Mercedes that was like his hobby car from a person who had not filled out pink slip transfer, but they never could trace the paperwork back nor find the last registered owner. So he still has it.
Ha! wrote on Sep 14, 2007 11:51 PM:Fine me all you want! Stand in line for all I care, if thats what my tax money pays you for. I can hardly pay my mortgage, but I do anyways. Do you know how? By holding on to, and rebuilding my "junk" so I can get long service for my investment. Since when did it become a crime to be self reliant? I'm SOOOOOO SORRY I find old stuff still useful! I guess I should have been a doctor instead of a blue collar man. At least a doctor can still work with his hands!
Watch Out! wrote on Sep 15, 2007 1:37 AM:Any of you cowboys out there with an antique horse carriage or wagon in your front yard? I believe that might be an abandoned vehicle!?!? You better get rid of that eye sore!
Yah, thats mine!?! wrote on Sep 15, 2007 1:42 AM:It might not be much, or much to look at, but guess what?........... ITS MINE!!!!!!! Who are you to say its trash?
I dont like that! wrote on Sep 15, 2007 1:48 AM:Just because I think your shoes look like "junk" doesn't give me the right to throw them away for you!
Heather wrote on Feb 11, 2008 12:49 PM:I thought when you buy your property it is yours why do you get to tell what I can have on it or do with it. I understand if it my cause illness or can be a real hazard but, give me a break, I am paying for this poperty not the county! I agree with the last guy if I don't like your shoes then can we throw them away?
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