CITY OF CATHEDRAL CITY
M E M O R A N D U M
TO: Charlie McClendon, City Manager
Anne Ambrose, Assistant City Manager
FROM: Andrew Firestine, Director of Development Services
DATE: March 1, 2024
SUBJECT: Solid Waste Container Analysis Updates
On Tuesday February 13, 2024, the Code Compliance Division initiated a pilot educational program for solid waste containers in the Panorama neighborhood. Multiple staff walked Durango Road and Risueno Road on February 13, the day before trash service. Where staff observed a visible solid waste container, staff taped an educational flyer (in English and Spanish) on the container. Staff also documented those properties where they observed a visible solid waste container from the street.
Following this initial outreach, Code Compliance staff again walked Durango Road and Risueno Road on February 16 to evaluate the effectiveness of the educational flyers to promote the proper storage of solid waste containers behind a gate. A copy of the ed ucational flyer is attached. As with the survey on February 13, staff documented those properties where they observed a visible solid waste container from the street.
The survey identified 122 total properties on Risueno and Durango on February 13 in violation of the City’s ordinance on the storage of solid waste containers or 43 percent of the properties on the two streets. Following the educational campaign, 108 were in violation on February 16 or 38 percent of the properties on the two streets. The net difference between the two surveys was a decrease in 14 properties in violation of the of the City’s ordinance on the storage of solid waste containers. A spreadsheet c ontaining the specific data points and analysis is attached for reference together with a map documenting those properties identified in the survey.
While the survey resulted in a net decrease in violations, the results are mixed. There was a net decrease in violations between February 13 and 16, although some of these may simply be attributed to residents who moved their solid waste containers out the day before trash service.
Similarly, some of the new violations observed on Friday may be solid waste containers that were not stored properly after trash service. A significant number of properties continue to store solid waste containers in the front of their residence following the educational campaign.
The surveys over the course of the two days took 10 staff hours to complete, covering a total of 284 properties in the City or roughly 1 percent of the City’s housing stock. The survey would be impractical to scale to a citywide effort using the same methodology.
In addition to the pilot educational program in the Panorama neighborhood, staff conducted a windshield inspection of the Cathedral City Cove and Rio Vista and Verano neighborhoods. These were conducted by a code compliance officer driving through the neighborhoods to document observations from a vehicle for the purpose of identifying the order and magnitude of solid waste container violations in these neighborhoods and variables tha t influence container storage in these areas.
Cathedral City Cove
Staff devised a methodology to divide the Cathedral City Cove neighborhood into four quadrants containing 46 separate streets. The table below shows how the streets were divided by color:
Utilizing the same process as the previous windshield inspections in the Panorama neighborhood, staff used the following table to determine the severity of violations of CCMC 13.80.090, Garbage Containers across the cove area:
Number of garbage bins Classification of severity Color 10 or fewer Very Low
20 or fewer Low
30 or fewer Medium
49 or fewer High
50 or more Very High
Using the above map and table, the streets of the cove are listed below in order of severity and color coded to show which streets belong to which quadrant:
Garbage bin severity by street
Rodeo None
Farrell None
Cove None
A None
Sunair Very Low
Melrose Very Low
Tahquitz Very Low
Kings Very Low
Hillcrest Very Low
Earl Very Low
Porter Very Low
Miller Very Low
Channel Very Low
Foothill Very Low
Mountain Shadow Very Low
Dorn Very Low
B Very Low
F Very Low
Glenn Very Low
J Very Low
Moonlight Very Low
Palo Verde Low
San Jacinto Low
Carroll Low
Elna Low
Indigo Low
Grove Low
D Low
E Low
Van Fleet Low
Iroquois Low
Bahada Low
Valley Vista Low
Sharpless Low
Treasure Trail Low
Terrace Medium
Chuperosa Medium
Vista Medium
C Medium
Grandview Medium
Karen Medium
Bankside High
H High
Paradise High
Charlesworth High
Bel Air Very High
Using the data abov e, staff makes the following generalizations on which quadrants have the highest number of violations or are the most likely to contain violations:
1. Green Quadrant (Highest number of violations)
2. Blue Quadrant
3. Purple Quadrant
4. Yellow Quadrant (Lowest number of violations)
It is important to include within this data that across all quadrants the following conditions were noted during staff’s inspection:
• There exist properties that have a very steep driveway or stair access to their frontage due to the hilly nature of the area, making the back -and-forth of garbage bin storage difficult for disabled or elderly residents.
• Some properties (particularly within the blue quadrant on streets such as Grove) have no property fencing that would obscure properly stored bins, there is no space to contain the bins such as a garbage enclosure, and no reasonable area the bins might be s tored elsewhere but where they were observed:
Image taken from Google Maps (Oct 2022): on Grove St, these homes have very little space between them, and share this dirt alley in which their vehicles and bins are expected to be stored, however this location is in view of the public right -of-way. To the rear of these properties is a solid fence that divides these homes from those behind.
• There are a number of properties in the Yellow Quadrant that are multi-unit dwellings or apartment structures. These apartments have dedicated trash enclosures or areas for bin storage that are clearly visible from the public right of way, but were originally constructed with the purpose of containing garbage bins:
Image taken from Google Maps (Aug 2023): on Tahquitz, this complex has a constructed trash enclosure on its south side that contains a dumpster meant for general refuse. It also has enough recycling and plant matter bins to accommodate its many occupants, but these cannot be contained within the allotted area, nor is there a “rear of property” for these bins to be stored out of public view. They were counted among bins observed from
the right-of-way. Despite the visibility of these bins in the Y ellow Quadrant, the quadrant contained the least number of bin violations.
Rio Vista and Verano Neighborhoods
Staff conducted a windshield inspection of streets within both the Verona and Rio Vista neighborhoods. Staff focused their efforts in the following two areas:
The route of the windshield inspections in the western half of Verona and Rio Vista.
Following the process used in our previous windshield surveys, staff used the table below to determine the severity of the violation:
Number of garbage bins Classification of severity Color 10 or fewer Very Low
20 or fewer Low
30 or fewer Medium
49 or fewer High
50 or more Very High
Following this table, staff made the following findings:
Verona West Rio Vista West
Rio Naches alley (3) Very Low Rango (28) Medium
Rio Vista alley (6) Very Low Ovante (28) Medium
Rio Rosalia alley (12) Low Verona (30) Medium
Rio Madre alley (13) Low Tamara (45) High
Rio Large alley (15) Low Ontina (54) Very High
Rio Oso alley (17) Low Medano (54) Very High
Rio Plata alley (20) Low Quijo (55) Very High
Peineta (56) Very High
Garbino (57) Very High
Verona West: The data collected shows a low volume of improperly stored bins in this area compared to housing density. Garbage bins in the Verona area are stored within alleyways that divide the housing blocks. Most of these alleys contain between 30-40 separate homes each with their own bins. There is the potential here for as many as 120 bins to be visible on garbage day.
Rio Vista West: The most important thing to note in the Rio Vista area is that most of the properties in violation kept all available garbage bins outside, along their driveways, or in the front of their property. Even though the windshield survey only covered half of the Rio Vista area, each street contained approximately 50 homes and most of the violating properties had 3 or more bins present on them , suggesting that while the violation is greater there than in Verona, the number of violators may be equivalent. In these regions, staff would estimate only between 10-20 properties per street were in violation, less than half of all proper ties located on each street.