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Description
of Functions:
Commercial
and Residential Complaint and Referral
These sections are responsible for investigating code
violations on existing commercial buildings and single
family residential buildings. The types of violations
investigated and cited on these buildings run the gamut
of all of the codes including the city zoning ordinances.
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Interagency
Housing Task Force (a.k.a. Slumlord Task Force)
This task force targets owners of apartment buildings
with sub-standard and slum conditions. The task force
is headed by our City Attorney's office and is made
up of representatives of Building and Safety, the County
Health Department and the Fire Department. It has proven
to be one of our most effective code enforcement programs.
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Security
Bars
This required retrofit program focuses on residential
buildings which have security bars without the required
quick release devices. Since the inception of this program
approximately 85,000 buildings have been properly retrofit.
We estimate that there are about 400 buildings left
which are not in compliance.
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Citations
Unit
This unit issues citations primarily on transient types
of violations such as open air vending, a variety of
zoning violations and fixed machinery noise violations.
The citations they issue are actually 'Notice To Appear'
tickets and are punishable as misdemeanors and/or infractions.
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Home
Occupation Unit
Inspectors in this section investigate violations of
the City's 'Home Occupation Ordinance'. This ordinance
allows occupants of dwellings to conduct limited business
activities as a secondary use in residential zones as
long as they don't have an adverse impact on the residential
character of a neighborhood.
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Sign
Enforcement
As a part of our effort to reduce visual blight in the
City, our sign enforcement section responds to complaints
about illegal signs. This unit also Inspects all newly
constructed signs. At the request of the City Council,
we conduct pro-active surveys in certain business districts
in the city.
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Pro-Active
Code Enforcement (PACE)
This is our only program that operates full time on
a pro-active or survey basis. This Community Development
Block Grant (CDBG) funded program targets specific code
enforcement problems in limited geographic regions of
the City. Our PACE team works very closely with a number
of other city agencies & the City Attorney's office.
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ANNUAL
INSPECTION MONITORING (AIM)
Most of our code enforcement programs are financed by
the City's General Fund. This program is a fee supported
program. Our combined Annual Inspection Monitoring (AIM)
program requires an annual inspection of all auto repair
facilities, auto dismantling yards, junk yards, scrap
metal processing plants, used car lots, cargo containers,
storage yards, and recycling centers for violations
of both building and land use ordinances. The sites
included in this program are subject to fines and revocation
of their Certificates of Occupancy if compliance with
the ordinance is not maintained.
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Problem
Property Resolution Team (PPRT)
Inspectors on this team are part of a multi-agency task
force made up of our City Attorney's office, the Police
Department, the Housing Department and Building and
Safety. This group is called the City-wide Nuisance
Abatement Program (CNAP). The mission of this task force
is to abate building and housing violations on properties
which have associated criminal activity such as drugs
and gangs.
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Contract
Nuisance Abatement (CNA)
The mission of the Contract Nuisance Abatement Section
is the abatement of open, vacant, abandoned and vandalized
buildings. The process includes declaring these properties
to be a 'Nuisance' and/or 'Hazard'. When property owners
fail to comply with orders requiring them to clean,
secure, rehabilitate or demolish these buildings, the
Department steps in and actually performs the preliminary
physical abatement work of cleaning and securing by
way of an annually awarded contract to various private
contractors. The scope of the work performed by these
contractors includes: Removing debris, rubbish and excessive
vegetation; Barricading all of the openings on the buildings;
Painting out graffiti; Fencing the lot; Demolishing
the buildings when they become a repeated problem. The
cost of this work (plus a 40% administrative fee) is
assessed as a lien against the property.
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Abandoned
Building Task-Force (ABTF)
This team has been tasked to pursue abatement of 400
of the City's most severely blighted abandoned buildings
(worst of the worst). The goal of this team is to have
these buildings rehabilitated or demolished.
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Nuisance
Abatement Revocation (NAR)
The Nuisance Abatement Revocation unit works with the
Department of City Planning in pursuing enforcement
of major zoning violations on properties which have
associated criminal activity. When property owners fail
to comply, this team has the ability to revoke the Certificate
of Occupancy and order the property vacated.
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Abatement
of Earthquake Damaged Buildings
This CDBG funded program targets unrepaired earthquake
damaged buildings throughout the city. Most of this
work has been completed.
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Building
Inspection Service Section
This activity provides an inspection service for a fee
for existing buildings, including single and multiple
residential and commercial. After inspection and corrections,
if necessary, a "Certificate of Building Compliance"
is issued stating that the building is in substantial
conformance with code requirements for existing buildings.
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Hotels
& Motels
This section is responsible for investigating general
code violations on existing Hotel & Motels which
are not currently under investigation by the IHTF, PACE,
PPRT or CNA sections.
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Legal
Liaison
Inspectors in this section work as a liaison between
the inspectors, the City Attorney and the Court system
in order to pursue prosecution and compliance on the
more difficult cases handled by Code Enforcement inspectors.
Compliance is obtained through the use of City Attorney
Hearings, the issuance of citations, and direct filings
in Court.
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