Council Member Question Answer/Solution
Chahal 1. What cities are not in the County weed abatement program? Saratoga, Mountain View, Sunnyvale Chahal 2. How do other cities run their programs? See Attachment 4 Chahal 3. How are the amount of the County fees determined? The fees are calculated based on the total program cost for the year and the number of properties in the program. The calculation also takes into account the average number of parcels that fail inspection annually and require abatement by the contractor.
Chahal 4. What are non-compliant parcels charged for three years? The County has found that if property owners are in the program for three years they have a higher rate of compliance than if they are only in the program for one or two years.
Chahal 5. If the purpose of the program is to prevent a fire hazard, why are green weeds considered non-compliant?
The program has two purposes: fire hazard abatement and visual public nuisance abatement.
Park 6. Why isn't there a warning period?
There is a warning period built in from time of notice of investigation until time Council approves the proposed Commencement List for the following year after the investigation visit (6-10 months, depending on when property investigated). The Fire Department is adding a notice that will be sent out to property owners that are newly added to the next year's Commencement List between August and the public hearing the following spring.
Watanabe 7. Once the abatement notice is received, if a parcel owner abates themselves, how do they notify the County ?
They do not need to notify the County as the contractor goes to the property 15 days after the notice is delivered and if the weeds have already been abated, that is noted and no contractor abatement is required.
Park 8. If the parcel owner abates their weeds, do they remain on the list for 3 years? Yes, once they are added to the Commencement List by Council, even if they abate the weeds themselves, they are still responsible for the inspection fee for the following three years after the investigation visit.
Park 9. Could the program be based on overall program cost recovery, instead of parcel-by- parcel cost recovery to allow for money to be allocated to send out warning notices? The fees are for an overall program cost recovery strategy. While the parcel owners are paying fees to cover County costs, the County fees are not designed in a way that perfectly mirror the amount of time spent on each individual parcel. They are more of an estimate based on data from previous years. County only charges properties that are approved by the City Council on the Commencement List, and do not charge properties that have not been approved previously by City Council. This is why they are not able to charge fees to newly added properties as they have not yet been approved by City Council to be a part of the Weed Abatement Program. The best way to provide a warning is for the City to reach out to the new properties added to the following year's Commencement List.
Jain 10. Why is the max height of weeds 6 inches? Can it be increased? Although each city could determine their own weed height maximum, the County requests that all jurisdictions keep the same height of 6" for consistency.
Chahal 11. Does the County give the fire department contact information to individuals who are determined non-compliant so they may reach out for assistance? Yes, the County sends individuals who request assistance to the Fire Department who then pass them on to the Firefighters Foundation "Senior Assist Program" for consideration in assistance in removing their weeds.
Chahal 12. Can a resident provide proof of a medical issue to the County instead of coming to a Council meeting?
Yes, the County has received requests for an extension of the 14-day period to abate due to medical reasons and has granted the extension.
Weed Program: Questions/Comments from Council at 2/20/2024 Meeting Chahal 13. How many vegetation fires have we had in the City of Santa Clara? There were a total of 230 vegetation fires in Santa Clara over the last 5 years, averaging 46 per year.
Hardy 14. It makes more sense to change the inspection start date to April.
It is not County's preference to push back the inspection start date in Santa Clara from March 1st due to the timing of the start of the fire season and their schedule in other jurisdictions, but County has agreed that the latest they will push back the start date for investigations/inspections in Santa Clara is April 15th.
Hardy 15. The process for appeal should be more clearly identified and communicated.
County has agreed to include contact information for the Fire Department in the notice sent to property owners that their property was investigated and determined to be non- compliant.
Park 16. What do the other cities not in the County program do? See Attachment 4 Park 17. We should align the weed inspections with the City's clean up campaign April 28 - May 23, 2025 and send notices to residences.
The latest County has to move to start of investigations/inspections in Santa Clara from March 1st to April 15th. They would not agree to move it back any further. The Fire Department is working with the City DigiComms Team to send out notices to Santa Clara residents before the start of the inspection period.
Park 18. We should make exemptions for native grasses and medical issues.
The County can authorize an extension in the abatement time period for property owners with a medical exception. Native grasses fall under the same requirement as other grasses to be within the 6" max height. If the Council would like to make exceptions for native grasses, they may do so, or delegate this authority to the fire department if the property owner makes the request before they are added to the Commencement List.
Chahal 19. We should move the start of inspections to April 30th. The County has agreed to move the investigations/inspections in Santa Clara from March 1st to April 15th. They would not agree to moving it back any futher.
Chahal 20. Recommend that requests for medical exemption be sent to County.
County has the ability to extend the abatement period for property owners requesting for medical reasons. The Council, or designee, has the ability to remove property owners from the Commencement List.