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Council OKs staff plans for neighborhood preservation
Department given broader authority to issue citations
By Jana Seshadri
Ignore the code, pay a fine.
Sunnyvale City Council members added teeth to the city's neighborhood preservation efforts by unanimously approving the staff-recommended schedule of fines and broadening the neighborhood preservation department's authority to issue citations. Council and staff hope it will help preserve local neighborhoods.
Christy Gunvalsen, neighborhood preservation manager, presented a lengthy report to council at the March 5 meeting, detailing the work being done by geographic specialists, who are assigned neighborhoods in the city and responsible for working with residents to help maintain and strengthen these areas. The Neighborhood preservation Division is a section of Sunnyvale Community Development and comprises code enforcement and neighborhood partnerships.
Gunvalsen said her staff has worked diligently to achieve compliance from property owners and residents and emphasized her point by showing "before" and "after" pictures of several cases in which cleanup work was completed successfully. The division had property owners remove garbage bins from plain view, trim hedges and bushes to recommended levels, remove car tents, wipe out graffiti, remove storage items from front yards and park boats and long vehicles within driveways so as not to obstruct sidewalks.
Gunvalsen said that within a period of seven months last year, the division received 1,006 complaints--approximately 144 a month--and it took an average of 25 days to close them. Out of the cases, 165 were chronic code cases, which means they were open for a period longer than 45 days. She said it takes much longer to close the chronic code cases.
At an October 2001 meeting, the council helped the division deal with chronic violations by agreeing to divide code violations into two groups--highest priority, which includes repeat offenders, vehicle problems, illegal businesses, levying fines/citations and property maintenance, and second priority, which includes property alterations and car tents.
The compliance process in the past began with issuing a courtesy notice to the property owner, a courtesy letter if the notice was unheeded and a final notice as a last attempt. An administrative citation for $25 would then be issued if compliance was not achieved. Neighborhood Preservation once only had the authority to cite eight violations--debris, unauthorized home businesses, front yard storage, trashcans, vehicles on lawn, fences, signs and sidewalk obstructions.
At the meeting, Gunvalsen lobbied for two changes--increasing fees and broadening the department's authority to cite for violations.
Gunvalsen recommended that fines be assessed in progressively increasing increments--$50 for the first violation, $100 for the second within 36 months of the first citation date, $200 for the third within 36 months of the first citation date and $500 for the fourth and any subsequent violation within 36 months of the first citation date.
When Councilman Tim Risch asked whether the department has enough resources to handle all the complaints, Gunvalsen responded that they tackle the highest and second priority issues first.
Councilman Jack Walker brought up the issue of late fees, asking if a citation is not honored and the fine not paid by the resident, then could the city set it up so that the late fee would escalate according to time? City Attorney Valerie Armento responded that the current law does not allow that provision because sometimes a late fee could accumulate to be much higher than the citation itself.
The efforts of neighborhood preservation could be made easier if city employees lend a hand, Sunnyvale resident Arthur Schwartz said.
"My wife and I cover about 100 miles a week, walking around Sunnyvale streets," Schwartz said at the meeting. "Sometimes we find bushes and trees obstructing the sidewalks and in our way."
According to Schwartz, city employees, such as those who work in public safety, parks and recreation or other similar departments could make notes if they came across code violations and take the matter back to the Neighborhood Preservation Division, instead of waiting for a formal complaint from a resident.
Councilman Manuel Valerio and Vice Mayor Julia Miller requested that staff explore Schwartz's suggestion. Miller suggested a form to help track code violations. City Manager Robert LaSala said the idea merits further exploration, but added the process could take more time and cannot be implemented right away.
"This will involve more training, more education," LaSala said.
"The department has no resources to be proactive about code violation issues at this time," said Robert Paternoster, director of community development. "However, resident complaints are taken care of within 30 days of receiving the complaint."
Alviso resident Jack Robertson disagreed. He said at the meeting that he has voiced his concern and complaint repeatedly to council about the noise produced by the Sunnyvale Water Pollution Control Plant, located at 1444 Borregas Ave., and nothing has been done about it.
The council disagreed, however. The issue was investigated and taken care of, according to Risch.
"The noise level out in the parking lot of the plant at 2 p.m. is at 80 decibels--much above the recommended level," Robertson said. "This is causing hearing loss among children in the area."
Risch's response to Robertson's claim was definitive.
"I am an engineer with a little acoustics experience, and I've walked out there," Risch said. "There is no noise there, and the case is closed."
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
