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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 1998-11-18 Mayor Eugene R. Mullin Council: James L. Datzman ..__Joseph A. Fernekes ~aryl Matsumoto Iohn R. Penna MINUTES City Council Municipal Services Building Community Room November 18, 1998 ADDENDUM SPECIAL MEETING CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO NOVEMBER 18, 1998 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, pursuant to Section 54956 of the Government Code of the State of California, that the City Council of the City of South San Francisco will hold a Special Meeting on Wednesday, the 18th day of November 1998, at 6:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers, 400 Grand Avenue, South San Francisco, California. Purpose of the meeting: 1. Community preservation ordinance. 2. City Beautification/Code Enforcement. City Clerk City of South San Francisco Dated: November 12, 1998 CALL TO ORDER: ROLL CALL: AGENDA (Cassette No. 1) 1. Community preservation ordinance. 2. City Beautification/Code Enforcement. A~I!ON TAKEN 6:11 p.m. Mayor Mullin presiding. Council Present: Council Absent: Datzman, Fernekes, Matsumoto, Penna and Mullin. None. City Manager Wilson stated these are all one item, and Fire Chief Lee will start off with an overview followed by Fire Marshall/Chief Bldg. Inspector Kirkman will give particulars on the ordinance on code enforcement and the intensity of the program. Fire Chief Lee related: introduction of new Code Enforcement Officers Joan Sabin and Mike Martinelli; enforcing the issues of cleanliness; abate- ment comes after complaints and inspections have 11 / 18/98 Page I AGENDA ACTION TAKEN Community preservation ordinance. City Beautification/Code Enforcement. 11/18/98 Page 2 been made; some abatement is not possible because staff does not have the tools; compliance is volun- tary and it is frustrating with the people making the complaints; the City Manager, Fire, Police, Public Works, Park & Recreation, Economic & Communi- ty Development and County Health met to discuss various community issues with quality of life and neighborhood wellness issues being the major focal points for the group; from this, the Police Dept. will focus on a team and programs to provide and en- courage city and community involvement, and the Fire Dept. would focus on the enforcement aspect by defining those items and issues that may require enforcement action for compliance; further input was derived from other city departments on citizens issues as they relate to public nuisances, run down or unsightly property, abandoned or inoperable vehicles, and an ordinance was drafted; staff feels they must stop and get Council direction before proceeding. Fire Marshall/Chief Building Inspector Kirkman related: there is no way to force a home owner to paint his house, for this is a common complaint, but this is not graffiti. Discussion followed: Assistant City Attorney Wellman stated Council can designate something as a nuisance and State law allows you to decide it is a nuisance, so we can include it and abate it like graffiti; a house does not have to have a garage; there is no tool to abate a fence, unless you deem it a public safety hazard; vehicles on front lawns; is there an ordinance prohibiting autos being on blocks; the interpretation is very difficult to make clear cut, but it is very clear in the proposed ordi- nance; definition of abandoned vehicles; staff does not want everyone to go out and pave their front yard to park cars; cars can be parked in the drive- way as long as they are not over the public right-of- way; the proposed ordinance provides for monetary penalties; it speaks of administering monetary penalty citations; what about those people that can- not afford the citations; it is two fold through com- munity education; staff has been working with dif- ferent areas attempting to be totally discretionary; the program can be looked as at cleaning up the community; there could be an increase in the num- ber of administrative hearings where now there are 30 to 40 cases in a year; CDBG is offering clean-up bins to people that cannot afford it through the AGENDA Community preservation ordinance. City Beautification/Code Enforcement. 11/18/98 Page 3 ACTION TAKEN use of vouchers; this method could be increased with more demand where a policy would have to bemade through an increase in personnel and/or resources for one or two new people; what does the Council feel are acceptable levels in the community - vehicle repairs in residential areas, storage of vehicles on lawns and accumulation of junk, vehicle encroach- ment on right-of-way; those are broad policy types of questions from staff and require more discussion; definitions outlined in the proposed ordinance; As- sistant City Attorney Whittman stated the definitions are based on case law and California Code and is standard language for an attractive nuisance; Mayor Mullin wanted more specific definitions when you get into reasonable and unreasonable lengths of time; he feels the least subjective judgments that have to be made in the field will more likely stand up; what is a reasonable time - if it is a pile of junk in a front yard that could be a week or two weeks to clean up; if a house needs painting, and it is wet weather you have to wait until it is dry and appropriate weather, so trying to be highly definitive - staff's feeling is that it doesn't make sense, because there are two matrixes, so a violation is a violation; Mayor Mullin questioned, if he comes to a home owner and says our code enforcement officer says you get that done in two weeks ~ how do we enforce it; the home owner tells the City when they are going to get it fixed; staff has a policy issue spelled out with the degree of hazards, if it's trash it must be picked up in 24 hours for there is a blanket policy spelled out in the training manual; Assistant City Attorney would not recommend putting something in the ordinance, such as what is reasonable, for it could change over time and the City is locked in; if some- one appeals this and goes to the Court, what is reasonable; the Court looks at the facts of the case and makes a judgment call, and it depends on the Judge - did the City act in good faith and give it a reasonable amount of time; a law dictionary does not have a time frame on reasonable; the Assistant City Attorney has not looked up reasonable in Black's Law Dictionary; so it is a case by case adjudication; Mayor Mullin has a little trouble with clothes lines visible from the street; there are no setbacks to accommodate clothes lines; solar collectors casting shadows; parts of the ordinance were taken from San Leandro's ordinance; trash collectors stored on the street without lids that invite stray cats and rac- coons; parking limitations; trailers and boats on lawns; landscaping between the sidewalk and the Community preservation ordinance. City Beautification/Code Enforcement. 11/18/98 Page 4 curb, which is not owned by the property owner, but they are responsible for maintenance; is there a pollution problem with Franklin stoves or barbecues; Air Quality outlaws these in many zones; what if somebody starts burning garbage in the fire place; one needs a smoke arrestor on the fireplace; Coun- cilwoman Matsumoto wants to see a six month log of complaints; barbecues are exempt; 72 hour notice of violation for parking on a public right-of-way, for certain businesses block South Maple while using it as a staging area and for backing up; Assistant City Attorney gave an example - there was an auto body shop on Airport and they are storing those cars, finished, on the street and taking up the parking on the block because they don't have enough room on the lot for the vehicles they are repairing, this was resolved with their cooperation; it is difficult for the Police to tag those vehicles for they do not stay there for a long period of time; there should be a legal definition for storage; notification process for abatements and hearings; it is recommended that staff send notices by certified mail and return re- ceipt; administrative hearings should say they will be conducted by the City Manager's designee, rather than using high priced talent; the City Manager's decision is final and then it goes to the Court; is the City going to let the property owner know what he is in for in costs, for that could be the moti- vation for compliance, for if you put a price it could be considered a cap; the City pays up from, as in the case of the removal of the house on Hillside, and then goes after the property owner with an assess- ment lien; violations and infractions; explanation of the citation process; some kind of reasonable time frame has to be made to determine the time frame; staff could address that to say, on the first offense you have the right to appeal it so many days; the Vice Mayor stated there was a similar discussion on bars on bedroom windows and everyone said we don't want any, and we had to show that we were reasonable and allowed an extended time table - where in this case it is harsh; the word infrac- tion can be changed; Vice Mayor Datzman is con- cerned the City is putting out a message that it is getting tough; the policy is discretionary and that is why staff needs direction; are we going to send out notices reminding people what the require- ments are, and follow it up; staff wants to make sure our existing tools do not conflict and are look- ing for standard tools throughout the community to clean it up; an awareness program for City Community preservation ordinance. City Beautification/Code Enforcement. 11/18/98 Page 5 employees to call in problems; homeowner groups that police their neighborhoods; strategy to stop people from working on other's cars on the street and in their driveways; checking commercial struc- tures; staff have meetings with neighborhoods and the Chamber to note their concerns and bring them back to Council; the Vice Mayor thought the con- cept was the idea tbr identifying a neighborhood not going in the right direction; why don't we find a way to work with the neighborhood, for who could disagree with that; neighborhood attendance is low at these meetings; Councilman Penna asked, once the ordinance is passed it could be applied one way today and another way by a new Council later; the thing that keeps coming back to him - why are we doing this; to make the town clean; Councilman Penna stated this goes back to the idea of what is art and what is junk, for we live in a free society and one's house is his castle, and don't tell him what to do with his property; he gave an example - a tenant is repairing autos, there is a complaint, code en- forcement goes out and the person stops working on vehicles and moved from the property - which hurts the property owner; how far do we go to tell some- one else what to do with their property, especially those who like to do work on their property and there are other people who can't stand others work- ing on their property; there are people with RVs or boats and others that can't stand seeing that and he hears it on both sides; how far do we go passing ordinances to tell people what they can and can not do with their property; there is a small portion of a homeowners group that is telling the others what to do; there should be another way to make people more conscious and more conscious of their neigh- borhood, rather than pass laws that are discretionary where one neighbor is pointing and saying why is this being enforced - where are we going with all of this, tbr he sees more controversy than results; Mayor Mullin does not mind someone working on their car, and has a problem with the ordinance in terms of general direction for this is a free society, but by the same token there is a lot of property being dragged down in property value and that is not right; he thinks this is going to move in a way to reduce the blight and then when we work into this with strong direction, otherwise you have Alta Lama which is falling apart; Councilwoman Matsumoto agreed with Councilman Penna, she believes in civic pride but it scares her that she is going to be dictat- ed to, for maybe she is saving her money for a trip AGENDA ACTION TAKEN Community preservation ordinance. City Beautification/Code Enforcement. 11/18/98 Page 6 rather than spending it to paint the house, and for that, she should be cited; Westborough Homeowners Assoc. has the same problems, they have the cars on the lawns, the unpainted garages and the fences down and the owners tell the Association this is their property; this ordinance should not discriminate against the poor; it scares her that the Council is going to tell her how to spend her money, for peo- ple in glass houses should not throw stones; Burlingame tried to do an ordinance on RVs in the driveways and there was such an outcry, but they tried to pass an ordinance and that hit the papers; she feels this is labor intensive and cannot support it; Vice Mayor Datzman asked, does this hurt the poor people - yes, if he looks around his neighbor- hood he has seen a number of things changed - a change in owners and landlords, and housing going in the wrong direction because the same degree of caring is not there; so, then maybe you look and say maybe it is time for me to leave; he does not think it is right for those that are staying to say this is dis- tasteful if we don't do it, what do we do; why don't the property owners pickup the papers and garbage, rather than complain; Councilman Fernekes stated a good example is the bathtub on the front lawn on Maple Avenue, yet little can be done and it is not fair to the neighborhood, and there has to be something to make it more enforceable to eliminate this stuff; look how many years it took to take care of the problems in Winston Manor, and in Brentwood the house that was never completed; there has to be some kind of compromise, an arm to deal with this; considering the increased use of vouchers for cleanup for the working poor; those are primarily used for safety issues, then the City springs for the vouchers and no strings are attached, but it is the serious problems that need to be ad- dressed; Councilman Fernekes agreed, there has to be those alternatives we are doing presently and continue to do, for if we don't do them the people will throw the garbage on the street and create a potential violation and it will be hard to enforce; there still needs to be an arm for enforcement to make it easier, but it has to be a compromise and not be really harsh because there are some people that cannot afford that and the City has to assist them to make it better; he does not like to see a neighborhood get damaged by people fixing autos and having twenty cars on the street which they rotate once in a while, and there has to be a mecha- nism to stop it; it is not fair to the majority of the AGENDA ACTION TAKEN Community preservation ordinance. City Beautification/Code Enforcement. ADJOURNMENT: people that live there; maybe it is their livelihood and it should not be jeopardizing the living of the neighborhood because that is what they choose to do; he agrees that the poor have to be given assis- tance in painting or by being provided a dumpster; Mayor Mullin has a problem with the last portion of the ordinance, for we are not going to go after the little guys, otherwise he is content. M/S Fernekes/Penna - To adjourn the meeting. Carried by unanimous voice vote. Time of adjournment was 8:35 p.m. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, Barbara A. Battaya, Cit City of South San Francisco APPROVED. ~ rMaanYc.°l srco 'l'he entries of this Council meeting show the action taken by the City Council to dispose of an item. Oral communica- tions, arguments and comments are recorded on tape. The tape and documents related to the items are on file in the Office of the City Clerk and are available for inspection, review and copying. 11/18/98 Page 7