HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolutions - No. 2006-39RESOLUTION NO. 2006-39
A RESOLUTION OF THE LODI CITY COUNCIL
APPROVING POLICY STATEMENT FOR CODE
ENFORCEMENT PROGRAM
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Lodi City Council does hereby
approve the Policy Statement for the Code Enforcement Program operated through the
Community Development Department, Community Improvement Division, as attached
hereto marked Exhibit A.
Dated: March 1, 2006
I hereby certify that Resolution No. 2006-39 was passed and adopted by the City
Council of the City of Lodi in a regular meeting held March 1, 2006, by the following
vote:
AYES: COUNCIL MEMBERS — Beckman, Johnson, Mounce, and
Mayor Hitchcock
NOES: COUNCIL MEMBERS — None
ABSENT: COUNCIL MEMBERS — Hansen
ABSTAIN: COUNCIL MEMBERS — None
SUSAN J. BLACSTON
City Clerk
2006-39
EXHIBIT A
POLICY STATEMENT FOR
CODE PNKIRCEMpIT PROGRAM Sections 1 —3
Section 1. Introduction The Community Improvement Division of the
Community Development Department is responsible for the interpretation and
enforcement of the Housing Code, the Dangerous Building Code, State laws, and the
Lodi Municipal Code, as they pertain to substandard and dangerous dwellings and
buildings, and blighted or nuisance properties throughout the City of Lodi. This activity
has three major elements:
• Community Improvement. The administration and clerical duties which support all
activities under the Community Improvement Division. This includes the staff's
support and participation with community groups and functions, as well as the
development and implementation of an education and information program to
educate residents and property owners of the existing property maintenance
requirements as well as the minimum housing standards.
• Code Enforcement. The daily function of a city-wide Code Enforcement program is
to address issues of substandard housing, zoning violations, and nuisance activities
on private property, on both a proactive and reactive/complaint-driven basis, as a
means of eliminating blighted and nuisance conditions throughout the City of Lodi.
• Abatement. The abatement of substandard and/or hazardous buildings or
properties by way of demolition, repair, board up or clean up. AH abatement costs
are billed to the property owner and then placed as a lien on the property if not paid.
Section 2. Principles The overall strategy of the Community Improvement
Division's code enforcement program is based upon the following guiding principles:
• That fair and just code enforcement requires balancing the public good with
individual rights.
That it is the desire of oity staff to work with property owners, residents and
business owners of the community to achieve cooperative relationships and
encourage voluntary compliance,
6 That punishment is not an independent objective of code enforcement.
Punishment is a means of achieving a higher level of compliance with applicable
codes.
• That it is not generally desirable to impose punishment after a violation has been
abated, except as a means of obtaining efficient code enforcement.
That an objective of the enforcement program is to strive to be prompt,
consistent, predictable, and firm, while being both courteous and professional.
That enforcement response and its effectiveness needs to be continually
assessed, and new strategies be considered and implemented as warranted.
• That those responsible for creating an additional demand for code enforcement
services will be held responsible for the cost of providing those additional
services.
• That it is beneficial to establish effective collaborations with other departments,
agencies and organizations to aid in the accomplishment of these principles and
the goals and objectives of the program,
Section 3. Goals and Policies The following goals and policies guide the code
enforcement program.
• City Council believes that each resident of Lodi deserves to live in a safe,
peaceful and attractive neighborhood.
• City Council recognizes that the maintenance of the city's neighborhoods has an
economic value, as well as the value of having residents feel safe and satisfied
in their surroundings.
• City Council believes that the goal of code enforcement, in supporting
neighborhood safety, peacefulness and attractiveness, is to achieve compliance
with all applicable codes and the standards attributed to each code.
• The City, through its existing ordinances has set a specific policy on a number of
code -related issues; it is the responsibility of the City Council and the city
administration to support compliance with ordinances and/or change them as
needed.
City Council believes that tenants, property owners and property managers all
have responsibilities and may all be involved in code compliance efforts.
City Council believes that cost recovery is an important element to the code
enforcement program and while it is not reasonable to expect the code
enforcement program to be self-supporting, all efforts should be made to recover
costs that the City incurs in the course of an abatement action and a
comprehensive schedule of fines or penalties should be established.
• City Council believes that individuals must be given their right to due process
throughout the course of a code enforcement action.
• The City Council is open to considering creative enforcement and funding
alternatives.
Section 4. Operational Priorities The City Manager and the Community
Development Director have responsibility for determining the specific operational
approaches to be used in code enforcement. The following priorities guide the
operational planning and day-to-day management of the code enforoement program.
The Community Improvement Division's priority is to respond to and attempt to
resolve all code enforcement complaints. However, due to limited code
enforcement resources, there may be times when all code enforcement
complaints cannot be given the same level of attention.
9 The following community -wide criteria for the prioritization of code enforcement
complaints is established, with #1 being the highest priority:
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Violations that present an imminent threat to public health and safety;
2. Violations affecting storm water discharge to rivers or streams or other
irreparable environmental damage;
3. Violations related to substandard housing and dangerous building conditions;
4. Violations related to inoperable, wrecked, dismantled or abandoned vehicles;
5. Focused enforcement projects, as described in Section 5;
6, Any of the following types of violations that are having an adverse impact on
a larger population or area;
7. Violations involving on-going, unpermitted construction.
8. Violations related to zoning or land use regulations;
9. Violations related to property maintenance issues;
10. Violations related to noise regulations and other nuisance activities or
conditions.
O In those circumstances that code enforcement complaints have to be prioritized,
the most serious violations, as determined under the priorities set forth above,
should be addressed before the less serious violations.
• The Community Improvement Division is not to accept anonymous complaints
pertaining to code violations, except in those cases where the nature of the
complaint involves an imminent threat to public health and safety or to the
environment and the existence of the violation can be verified through an
inspection. In those exceptions, staff shall have the discretion to accept an
anonymous complaint and investigate it to confirm the alleged condition.
The Community Improvement Division will not accept retaliatory complaints from
parties or individuals who have an active complaint or code enforcement action
against their property. Retaliatory complaints are unjust and detract the
complainant's attention from needing to correct violations upon their property.
Once all violations or outstanding issues have been resolved from their property,
the Community Improvement Division will accept and act upon their complaint(s)
regarding other properties in the priority established above.
• The above prioritization is established because a complaint -driven system has
not been entirely effective in achieving code enforcement goals and policies.
Section 5, Focused Enforcement Efforts It is necessary to undertake focused
enforcement efforts to identify code violations and obtain compliance. These focused
efforts will include the following tasks:
. The abatement of nuisance and dangerous buildings;
2. Violations or conditions which affect either an entire neighborhood or
area, or the entire city;
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3. Address conditions noted at one property that are clearly visible at
surrounding properties;
4. Stop Work Orders for unpermitted activities;
5. Provide assistance with related code enforcement actions by other
departments and agencies.
0 The Lodi improvement Committee is a mechanism for identifying neighborhoods,
areas or issues that are in need of focused enforcement.
® The Lodi Police Department Partners Volunteers shall be utilized to support
Community Development's focused enforcement in targeted areas,
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