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SEPTEMBER 17, 2024
ROLL CALL
-
3:00 PM
-
Report of the City Clerk of the City Council, re: Posting of Agenda. The Agenda for the Tuesday, September 17, 2024 Special Public Meeting of the City Council was posted on September 13, 2024, on the Bulletin Board Outside City Hall.
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A
SPECIAL PUBLIC MEETING
of the City Council is hereby called to meet at
3:00
PM
on
Tuesday, September 17, 2024
, in the Council Chamber, 613 E. Broadway, 2nd Floor
,
Glendale, CA 91206 to consider the following item(s) of business, to wit;
1. Community Development, re:
Neighborhood Services Code Enforcement Direction
a. Council motion to provide direction on the methodology of Code Enforcement action
ADJOURNMENT
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1 CITY OF GLENDALE, CALIFORNIA
REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
AGENDA ITEM
Report: Neighborhood Services Code Enforcement Direction
1. Council motion to provide direction on the methodology of Code Enforcement action
COUNCIL ACTION
Item Type: Action Item
Approved for September 17, 2024 calendar
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Community Development’s Neighborhood Services Division ensures Glendale Municipal Codes – regardless of the department which oversees the code section – are upheld and maintained. With the current Code Enforcement operation, the investigation into violations and the oversight to ensure compliance, is derived from a complaint driven process. Potential violations are brought to the Division’s attention from members of the public, the Council, or other City staff. These potential violations are scheduled for investigation with the appropriate level staff without set prioritization of urgency, aside from staff’s own discretion on the level of importance.
Code Enforcement Division is seeking direction from Council on setting a prioritization schedule for addressing violations, education, enforcement, and escalation of such enforcement, and the scope of resources which may be needed to meet the direction. 3 of 11
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3 RECOMMENDATION
Provide direction for code enforcement, education, enforcement, and escalation.
ANALYSIS
Current Practice
Code Enforcement Division oversees the maintenance and enforcement of all Glendale Municipal Codes. From zoning violations to unpermitted construction, to unhabitable living conditions, to unauthorized utilization of the public right of way, and to a variety of other standards established to preserve the City, Code Enforcement Division is dispatched to investigate all possible violations of the Glendale Municipal Code. When violations are discovered, the property owner is contacted and provided a compliance deadline in which violations must be addressed, generally within 30 days. If violations are not corrected by the compliance date, re-inspection fees may be issued, and enforcement continues until violations are eventually resolved. If property owners do not address such issues, citations are issued when appropriate, and upon the third citation’s issuance, the case is referred to the City Attorney’s office for prosecution. Some cases are quickly resolved, while other cases take significant research on the part of the inspector along with attentive guidance provided to the property owner to ultimately reach compliance, which can take months to achieve.
Proposed Enforcement Modifications
The current methodology for compliance has been successful in some arenas, but direction on refinement of education, enforcement, and prioritization is requested to bring additional effectiveness to the process.
The list of violations that are addressed by the Neighborhood Services team is exhaustive and diverse. Staff has presented a series of categories that these issues can be placed into, highlighting those that are most common, reoccurring, or of interest to the public or Council. The three categories defined by staff include:
• Urgent – Life & Safety
• Priority – Quality of Life
• Non-Urgent – Quality of Life
Urgent – Life & Safety issues are related to those that can jeopardize or threaten health, safety, or welfare of the public and require urgent corrective action. This can relate to unpermitted or unsafe work, public health threats, or other issues that so severely impact quality of life that they require immediate attention and action.
Note that all violations regarding unpermitted work are not necessarily equal. Accessory changes such as decks or gazebos are not necessarily jeopardizing health, safety, or welfare and can be corrected through a more collaborative approach aligned with non- urgent quality of life. Others, including structural, mechanical, or electrical modifications to homes, or unpermitted businesses related to food service or spaces accessible to the public align themselves with a more necessary urgent approach as they can pose a safety threat.
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3 Priority - Quality of Life violations are those that may not pose a threat to health, safety, or welfare but are either important issues to the community or Council, and if left unchecked for too long can become more challenging to correct. This can include issues related to historic preservation, sustainability, or use of the right-of-way.
Non-Urgent - Quality of Life issues represent violations that do not jeopardize or threaten health, safety, welfare, and are not pervasive challenges. These can include unmaintained parkways, signage, or fences. They are still important to the community and to Council, but can also be approached in a manner that encourages compliance in a manner that is less urgent and more collaborative.
Prioritization
To assist Council in the decision-making process, staff has allocated various violations into their respective categories. But questions remain as to how Council would desire to approach them in regards to urgency, as well as enforcement strategy. Staff has also provided recommendations on the appropriate approach to enforcement based on these categories.
For those issues that are Urgent, staff recommends reducing the period between violations and increasing response times, recognizing the urgency or safety threat that they may pose to the broader community. While staff always prefers a less punitive approach, some issues require a quicker response and more punitive enforcement if corrective action is not taken.
- Active work without permits (stop work order)
- Active grading without permits (stop work order)
- Street Vending (No mailed Notice, citation issued immediately if items not removed)
- Graffiti (10 days)
- Habitability issues within housing units
oLack of required heating or gas (72 hours)
- Street Use Permits (72 hours)
- Beehives (72 hours)
- Stagnant pools (72 hours)
Recommended: Notice of Violation Compliance Timeline: 30 days (or less per ordinances) and Citations: 3 days between citations
For violations that are a Priority - Quality of Life issue, staff recommends a combination of education and enforcement, providing a tighter timeline for compliance with Priority versus Non-Urgent quality of life concerns. Staff is requesting Council direction on the placement of such violations into each category, with examples provided below. - Historic preservation
- Leaf blowers
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3 - Plastics Reduction Regulations
- Vacation Rentals (home sharing)
- Mylar Balloons
Recommended: Notice of Violation Compliance Timeline: 30 days and Citations: 15 days between citations
For issues that are Non-Urgent - Quality of Life, staff recommends maintaining the existing periods of enforcement and escalation of a violation. These provide opportunities for those in violation to take corrective action in a more collaborative approach with the City. It ultimately ensures compliance with City standards, but is less punitive in the pursuit for compliance.
- Correcting existing work without permits
- Signage
- Lack of landscaping / parkways
- Home Occupation Permits / Business Licensees
- Trash cans left out prior to or after collection day
Recommended: Notice of Violation Compliance Timeline: 30 days Action by Staff
As highlighted, enforcement does not necessarily always need to be punitive in nature, and staff prefers to work in a collaborative fashion to achieve a satisfactory outcome. As such, staff has outlined additional approaches that could be factored in and applied to the aforementioned violations.
•Education – Staff could partner with the respective departments to provide first time violators with education materials. This could include flyers and handouts rather than a Notice of Violation or a Citation. This approach is currently utilized with the Office of Sustainability and Urban Forestry and could work well with new ordinances or violations the Council would prefer to move more toward education in lieu of enforcement.
•Incentives – Staff could partner with respective departments to offer incentives for those that comply. Using the example of Sustainability initiatives again, staff could develop a program that allows businesses that proudly exhibit that they are in compliance of a particular ordinance, such as the ban of single use plastics. It allows them to advertise as a sustainable business and could be used as a marketing feature. This could reduce the number of overall violations, increase awareness, and increase overall voluntary compliance.
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3 This program can be celebrated through marketing and social media, or decals in storefronts. While the development and outreach for both education and incentive programs could be managed through the new Communications Manager position for the department, these non-financial incentives could still incur additional costs for materials, media, or handouts. If financial incentives were to be considered, direction would be requested on the parameters of such a program and would require additional staff *(1 Administrative Assistant) to review applications and process funding.
•Proactive Enforcement – The Neighborhood Services Division is operating under a complaint driven program. Some ordinances, such as gas-powered leaf blowers, can prove challenging to enforce when complaint driven, as an inspection needs to be scheduled and coordinated. Proactive enforcement, where staff is “patrolling” for various violations, paired with education or incentive, would allow ordinances of this type to be more effective in achieving compliance. While the ordinance on gas-powered leaf blowers does provide clear direction on the issuance of one warning, followed by a citation on the second offense, the enforcement – whether proactive or reactive – is not determined. As outlined in the later discussion regarding overtime, weekends, and evenings, any proactive enforcement would require the addition of staff members *(1 Customer Service Representative, 2 Associate Inspectors) to work into a standard rotation.
•Mediation Services – The process is a complaint driven system. This can often set up unnecessary feuds that City staff find themselves involved in, and in many cases with no clear path to issue a citation or hold accountable as they can be private disputes or even civil matters. A mediation service could be offered where a dedicated staff member is focused on bringing the two parties together to achieve a satisfactory resolution, or in the case where a violation exists, a timeline that is satisfactory amongst all parties for Non- Urgent Quality of Life issues. Allowing staff to serve as mediators could lead to a less contentious process among neighbors and toward staff. This would be non-binding in nature, but could assist in conflict resolution. Such service would require the addition of a new staff member, but could prove valuable in reducing the number of inspections required, or time dedicated to a particular matter or case. These mediation services would be beneficial in situations where the City’s ordinances and staff are utilized in feuds, or when a discrepancy escalates to points where enforcement is not effective and the issue is not something that jeopardizes safety, health, or welfare. When staff notices such behavior, mediation would be required prior to any further visits from inspectors, and once a mediation agreement is reached, no further inspections would take place. *(1 Administrative Associate) 7 of 11
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3 •Increased and Heightened Enforcement – In Urgent and Priority cases, particularly those which the Council sets as of greatest importance to the community and Council, a more punitive or accelerated approach to enforcement would be taken. As discussed with the Council during the August 27, 2024, meeting regarding street vending, impounding of materials could be an option, as well as reduced windows of time for additional citations (e.g. reducing time between citations). This could also include increased fines to emphasize the importance of compliance. *(1 Code Compliance Inspector) •Amnesty Program – In some cases, new property owners inherit code compliance issues that they were not aware of at the time of purchase. This could include minor modifications or additions. This can pose significant challenges due to both the complaint based system, or if the new property owners decide to make modifications or renovations using the proper permitting process. The pre-existing violations or failures to meet code compliance can trigger additional work that can be costly or difficult to change. This can be burdensome to a property owner, and also begins a relationship with the City in a negative light, often for new residents to our community. In cases that are not egregious, jeopardize safety, and significantly outdate the new property owner, staff could develop an amnesty program that can provide additional time, resources, or leniency for pre- existing violations. If Council wishes to consider this item, staff could return later with a full plan and criteria.
•Special Accommodations – Some code compliance issues are derived from age or deterioration and can be a result of a property owner’s limited financial resources, age, or other extenuating circumstances. Staff could develop a program that provides additional time or develop alternative solutions to achieving compliance that can take into account qualifying circumstances, such as income. If Council wishes to consider this item, staff could return at a later date with a full plan and qualifying criteria.
Proposed Staffing Modifications
Some of the challenges that Neighborhood Services is currently facing is dealing with specific quality of life issues that present themselves more often on evenings and weekends. This includes sidewalk vending, home sharing, and noise ordinances.
Neighborhood Services currently functions on a 7:00 am to 5:00 pm schedule, unless addressing a specific instance that a code enforcement professional needs to investigate outside of those standard business hours. While the descriptions for the positions authorize management to assign weekend and evening work, the current number of staff prohibits management from reallocating staff from standard weekday operations. Doing so would essentially spread the total number of staff members too thin, and would weaken or lessen enforcement capabilities during standard business 8 of 11
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3 hours. Often, these types of issues then are addressed by the Police Department. This presents a challenge to Police, as these issues are administrative in nature and not criminal, and rightfully do not rise to the same level of priority as criminal related issues.
The best means to address many of these afterhours quality of life issues would be to add additional staff to the Neighborhood Services team or to authorize and fund overtime. This would allow the Division to maintain its current level of service throughout the week and standard operating hours, while then addressing the other violations that exist on evenings and weekends. The option of overtime provides the incentive for staff members to participate, and the option of additional staff ensures that a proper rotation of weekday, evening, and weekend shifts can be distributed. *(Overtime for current staff: 1 Associate Inspector + 1 Inspector – OR – 2 new hourly Inspectors) Relationship to the Department Action Plan
Staff would like to take the recommendations from Council regarding this report, and include this in the Community Development Department Action Plan, unless directed by Council to take immediate action (e.g. begin utilizing overtime for evening and weekend violations). This would allow staff to factor any potential changes into the broader department initiatives and goals, while also providing the time to develop a full fiscal impact for the recommended changes. Staff will also be returning with considerations related to citations and fines in a broader context as part of the Action Plan. The Action Plan is anticipated to be presented to Council in October 2024.
STAKEHOLDERS/OUTREACH
Direction provided from Council will determine stakeholder outreach.
FISCAL IMPACT
Direction provided from Council will determine Fiscal Impacts which will be expanded upon in the CDD Action Plan to be presented in October 2024.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW (CEQA/NEPA)
CEQA does not apply to projects where the lead agency determines "with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment." CEQA Guidelines (14 Cal. Code Regs.) § 15061(b)(3). Here, the action involves modification of staff prioritization. There is no possibility that the action of modifying enforcement efforts may have a significant effect on the environment.
CAMPAIGN DISCLOSURE
This item is exempt from campaign disclosure requirements.
ALTERNATIVES TO STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Provide direction on proposed modifications to Code Enforcement operations. 9 of 11
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3 ADMINISTRATIVE ACTION
Submitted by:
Bradley Calvert, Director of Community Development
Prepared by:
Tamar Sadd, Deputy Director of Community Development
Approved by:
Roubik R. Golanian, P.E., City Manager
EXHIBITS/ATTACHMENTS
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M O T I O N
Moved by Council Member , seconded by Council
Member , that, with respect to the Report to City Council dated September 17, 2024 pertaining to methodology for code enforcement action, the Council directs staff as follows:
___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ Vote as follows:
Ayes:
Noes:
Absent:
Abstain
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