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City Council approves plan for protection, preservation
Neighborhood society officially adopts a set of priorities
By Jesse Ducker
The Neighborhood Preservation Society has dealt continuously with chronic code violations in Sunnyvale for some time. Now, with some help from the city council and residents of the city, members have a clear list of priorities.
The city council unanimously approved a list of priority issues for the group to devote its time to enforcing.
"These are appropriate actions to take at this time," Mayor Jack Walker said.
The code violations were divided into two groups--highest priority and second priority. According to Christy Gunvalsen, the neighborhood preservation manager who presented the report to the council, the group will be proactive in enforcing highest priority violations and will respond to second priority violations upon notification by residents.
The highest priority violations include repeat offenders, vehicle problems, illegal businesses, levying fines/citations and property maintenance. These would include immediate health and safety issues. The second priority violations include property alterations and car tents.
The list was essentially the same as the one identified by the council on June 20, 2000, with some minor alterations. These changes were made after the group surveyed the neighborhoods within Sunnyvale. Property maintenance was originally listed as a secondary priority, but was moved to highest priority, as per the group's recommendation. Shopping carts and excessive front-yard paving were recommended as study issues.
According to Gunvalsen, the council's decision gave the Neighborhood Preservation Project "a direction based on the priorities of the city and feedback from residents. It substantiates what we've been doing."
Gunvalsen said she's very happy with the council's decision.
"Our city council has stayed in tune with the Neighborhood Preservation Project," she said. "This decision is really good for us."
According to Gunvalsen, there have been 20 significant cases handled by the neighborhood protection project in the past 10 months, some of which are now being worked on. She said on average these cases with serious violation take about six months to close.
Many of the cases handled by the project frequently contain a "multitude" of high-priority health and safety violations. She said that frequently a call from a resident about a second priority issue, such as property alteration, can lead to chronic complaint investigations.
For example, Gunvalsen described a case where a property owner had illegally converted a garage into a living area. She then tried to construct walls within the garage so that more people could live there. She even went as far as to try to construct a bathroom against the neighbor's fence.
"Overcrowding leads to health and safety issues," she said.
Gunvalsen said that in that case, they eventually went to the Board of Building Codes, which levied fines against the homeowner. The case took close to eight months to complete.
Gunvalsen said the administration citations for what would be second priority violations (such as a dilapidated fences, accumulated debris or front-yard storage) usually run between $25 and $100. She said administrative penalties could be levied in serious cases where homeowners refuse to correct the violations on an ongoing basis. In these cases, penalties have been up to $6,000.
The approval process by the council went fairly smooth, with council members occasionally asking for clarification on some of the terms in the report the group presented. Some city residents also voiced concerns over what was and wasn't in the report itself.
Michael Flores, a Sunnyvale resident and candidate for Sunnyvale City Council, questioned the overall validity of the survey, due to the fact that only 273 out of 100,000 Sunnyvale residents responded.
Some residents also questioned whether there were enough people in the Neighborhood Protection Society to enforce the codes effectively.
Tom Mayer of the Lakewood Neighborhood Association expressed concern about whether the project was significantly staffed to investigate all the violations.
"I'm not blaming the people who currently work there," Mayer said. "I'm worried that they don't have enough help to keep the investigations open."
Robert LaSala, city manager for Sunnyvale, said at the meeting that if more staff were needed, the city would be prepared to ask the council for more money for hiring.
Gunvalsen said after the meeting that as of July 1, one additional position had been added.
"If we can solve more cases due to the addition, great," she said. "We possibly can ask for additional resources next year."
There was also some concern expressed at the meeting that the project could lead to the city intruding on residents. Walker asked Gunvalsen to allay fears from residents that the city employees would be "driving around, looking over their fences."
"We're not going to be harassing anyone," Gunvalsen said after the meeting. "Our main approach is education. For the most part, it works very effectively."
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
