SR-1101-005
City Council Meeting: October 8, 2002 Santa Monica, California
TO: City Council
FROM: City Staff
Subject: Introduction and First Reading of an Ordinance Amending and Expanding
the Requirements for Tenant Protection During Construction, Expanding
the Scope Of Administrative Citations and Amending and Expanding the
Requirements for the Placement of Underground Utilities and Adopting a
Resolution Amending the Administrative Fine Schedule, Effective January
1, 2003
INTRODUCTION
This staff report recommends expanding the scope of tenant protection requirements
during construction to include buildings with only one dwelling unit, expanding the scope
of the new administrative citation process to include violations of Article 3 (Public
Safety) and Article 5 (Sanitation and Health) of the Santa Monica Municipal Code and
revising the current administrative fine schedule to include appropriate fines for
violations of Articles 3 and 5. This staff report also recommends revising the current
requirements for the placement of underground utilities to include single family
dwellings, to provide for hardship waivers, and limit its application to new or
substantially remodeled buildings.
DISCUSSION
Tenant Protection Requirements During Construction
Existing municipal law provides the following protections to tenants living in mobile
home parks and multi-family dwellings undergoing substantial rehabilitation:
1. Requires building permit applicants to prepare a construction means and
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methods plan detailing construction impacts on tenants;
2. Prevents building permit applicants from proceeding with construction when the
habitability of the units cannot be maintained during construction unless
provisions have been made for relocation of the tenants
3. Places these projects on a special inspection cycle to ensure compliance with the
means and methods plan;
4. Creates noticing requirements to ensure that tenants are aware of their rights
during construction and receive complete information regarding the scope and
schedule of the proposed project.
5. Provides for administrative penalties and fines to help insure compliance with the
means and methods plan
These preventative safeguards do not exist for tenants of single-family dwellings or
mixed-use buildings with only one dwelling unit. Staff has recently received complaints
from tenants in buildings with only one dwelling unit where ongoing construction
affected habitability. To better protect these tenants, staff recommends that these
tenants be afforded the same protection now given to tenants of mobile home parks and
multi-family dwellings. In addition, staff recommends adding language that clearly
makes the owner responsible to insure that contractors follow the approved means and
methods plan.
Expanding Scope Of Administrative Fine and Penalty Authority
The new City code enforcement ordinance, which became effective on July 15, 2002,
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authorized administrative fines and penalties for violations of the Santa Monica
Municipal Code. Current law limits the scope of these fines and penalties to violations of
Article 4 (Public Welfare, Morals and Policy), Article 6 (Business, Professions and
Trades), Article 7 (Public Works), Article 8 (Building Regulations) and Article 9 (Planning
and Zoning). Since its adoption, staff has encountered other possible code sections that
would benefit the City’s new code enforcement effort in Articles 3 and 5. These include
requirements for keeping properties and adjacent sidewalks free of rubbish and controls
for industrial wastewater. After reviewing applicable fine schedules of other cities for
code sections comparable to the City’s, staff recommends amending the scope of
authority for administrative fines and penalties and revising the existing fine schedule to
include violations of Article 3 and Article 5.
Placement of Underground Utilities
Except for single-family residential structures, existing law requires utilities to be placed
underground when a building receives new electrical service. Application of this law has
created several concerns:
1. The underground requirement for existing buildings is ambiguous because the
term “new service” is not defined in the code.
2. Older existing buildings often require service upgrades due to the increased
modern need for electricity. Requiring all utilities to be placed underground for
such buildings can make such safety upgrades prohibitive due to cost or
encourage electrical installations without permits and inspections.
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3. Utility sources are not always located in a public right of way and often exist on
private property held under separate ownership. This situation often creates
insurmountable difficulties and costs to obtain necessary easements.
4. Exemption of single-family dwellings makes possible future undergrounding of
utilities prohibitively expensive for either the City or a citizen created underground
utility district.
5. No hardship waiver provisions exist to address unique circumstances and
impracticalities.
To solve these concerns, staff recommends several changes to the existing
requirements. First, by clearly eliminating existing buildings from the underground
requirements, unless alteration work exceeds 50% of the building replacement cost, the
intent of the regulations becomes clear and older and more dangerous electrical
systems can be replaced without excessive ancillary cost.Second, addition of a
hardship waiver clause provides a means to properly exempt buildings due to individual
findings of unique impracticalities, unreasonable cost and legal impediments such as
inability to obtain private easements. Finally, requiring the placement of underground
utilities for all single family dwellings will permit the City to obtain full undergrounding of
utilities in the future. Such a change is consistent with the approved City
Undergrounding Plan, which gives priority to residential areas, including single-family
areas.
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BUDGET/FINANCIAL IMPACT
There will be additional staff costs for reviewing tenant protection requirements during
construction on buildings with a single dwelling unit and hardship waivers related to
requirements for utility undergrounding. These costs are reimbursed to the general fund
by permit user fees. Additional revenue will result from the collection of administrative
fines and penalties for the proposed new code sections in Article 3 (Public Safety) and 5
(Sanitation and Health). Since these code enforcement measures are new, it is difficult
to predict with certainty the amount of fines and penalties that will result. Staff expects
that no significant change will occur to the FY 02/03 revenue budget accounts. The cost
of construction for single-family dwellings may increase slightly in cases where utility
wires must be placed underground.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council take the following actions:
1. Introduce and hold first reading of the attached ordinance amending the
requirements for tenant protection during construction, expanding the scope of
administrative citations and amending the requirements for the placement of
underground utilities.
2. Adopt the attached resolution setting forth the administrative citation schedule of
fines for certain violations of the Santa Monica Municipal Code pursuant to
Section 1.09.040 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code, with an effective date of
January 1, 2003.
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Prepared by: Craig Perkins, Director of Environmental Public Works Management
Joan Akins, Administrative Services Manager
Gary Welling, Industrial Waste Services Coordinator
James T. Butts, Jr., Chief of Police
Gary Gallinot, Captain
Frank Fabrega, Lieutenant
Don Umber, Crime Analyst
Suzanne Frick, Director of Planning & Community Development
Lucy Dyke, Transportation Planning Manager
Beth Rolandson, Senior Transportation Planner
Jay Trevino, Planning Manager
Keith Young, Code Compliance Supervisor
Tim McCormick, Building Official
Attachment A: Ordinance Amending the Requirements for Tenant Protection
During Construction and Expanding the Scope Of Administrative
Citations
Attachment B: Resolution Setting Forth The Administrative Citation Schedule Of
Fines For Certain Violations Of The Santa Monica Municipal Code,
Effective January 1, 2003
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