SR-400-004-04
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MAY 2 NS7
C/ED:RAS:SF
Council Mtg: May 26, 1987
Santa Monica, California
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: City Staff
SUBJECT: Recommendation To Direct city Attorney To Prepare An
Ordinance To Amend Section 9157 (SMMC) To Authorize
citation Powers For zoning Enforcement And Amend
sections 6124, 6125, and 6126 (SMMC) To Provide For A
Business License Revocation Hearing Process.
INTRODUCTION
This report recommends that the City council direct the City
Attorney to prepare an ordinance to amend Section 9157 (SMMC) to
authorize citation powers for zoning enforcement and to amend
Sections 6124 through 6126 inclusive to provide for a business
license revocation hearing process.
BACKGROUND
On June l7, 1986, during the review of the FY 1986-87 Budget, the
City Council added an objective to the Planning Division's
Performance Plan. The intent of this objective was to enhance
and emphasize monitoring and enforcement of Zoning Ordinance
violations and conditions of approval imposed by various city
agencies, such as the Planning Commission, Architectural Review
Board and Zoning Administrator.
At the time the objective was approved, staff was directed to
prepare a report on how to accomplish the objective. The report
was to include changes to existing enforcement practices to
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MAY 2 6 1987
facilitate a proactive enforcement approach, a
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sensitive areas within the City, types of uies that necessitated
proactive enforcement and more effective ways to monitor and
track conditions of approval and enforcement complaints.
A determination was made early in the fiscal year to consolidate
enforcement considerations as part of the comprehensive Zoning
Ordinance update, and the draft recommended by the Planning
Commission includes a section on Enforcement. On May 19, 1987,
the matter was raised by the Council with the direction that the
issue of citation powers in particular be brought back to Council
prior to the Zoning Ordinance. This updated report provides the
City council with recommendations to implement a new approach to
Zoning Ordinance enforcement to address the concerns expressed,
including authorizing citation powers.
EXISTING ENFORCEMENT RESPONSIBILITIES
The Planning Division presently has two full-time zoning
Inspectors responsible for enforcement of the Zoning Ordinance
and conditions of approval imposed by the City Council, Planning
Commission, Architectural Review Board and the Zoning
Administrator. with the exception of signs, violations of the
zoning Ordinance or condi tions of approval are enforced on a
complaint basis only.
Once a complaint is received, it is assigned to a Zoning
Inspector for investigation. Within three days the Inspector
verifies if a violation exists by conducting one or more site
visits to document the violation with photographs. If the
complaint is enforceable, the Inspector will issue a violation
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notice to the property owner and if applicable, to the business
tenant. Depending on the nature of the violation, a period of 7
to 90 days is given to correct the violation. If the violation
is not corrected within the specified period of time, a second
notice is mailed indicating that the matter will be referred to
the city Attorney's Office. To ensure that adequate time has
been given for compliance before the matter is referred to the
city Attorney, a second period of time, typically 30 days, is
given to the parties involved.
If the matter is not corrected at the end of the second period of
time, a third notice is mailed informing the individual that
violation has been referred to the City Attorney's Office. It is
at this point that the City Attorney's Office becomes responsible
for any further enforcement action and the Planning Division no
longer has the ability to track the complaint.
In the event the violation can be corrected through the approval
of a Planning Commission, Zoning Administrator, or Architectural
Review Board Permit, the individual is given a specified period
of time in which to file an application. Once an application has
been filed, enforcement action is deferred pending a decision of
the appropriate regulatory body.
Impact of Current Enforcement Procedure
Currently, approximately 35% of the complaints are corrected upon
receipt of the first notice, 40% upon receipt of the second
notice, and 25% are not corrected until after an office
conference is held with the city Attorney's Office. Because few
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penalties exist for Zoning Ordinance violations or violations of
condi tions of approval, enforcement is prolonged and a
significant amount of time is spent by both the Planning staff
and City Attorney's Office before a violation can be corrected.
Planning Division records show that when a violation can be
brought into conformance through the approval of a discretionary
permit, most individuals will pursue this option as a means of
correcting the violation. Once an application is filed, the
matter is then referred to a planner for processing and
enforcement action is suspended until the final outcome. In the
event the permit is denied, the Inspector resumes the enforcement
action.
Experience has shown by proactive enforcement of the Sign
Ordinance that at least 90% of the violations will result in an
application before the Architectural Review Board when the matter
can be corrected in this manner.
PROPOSED ORDINANCE
Staff is proposing the adoption of an ordinance which enhances
the city's ability to enforce the zoning code and conditions of
approval. This ordinance would include several key components,
incl uding citation powers and a hearing procedure for revoking
business licenses. The ordinance will include language ensuring
that failure to comply with the terms and conditions of any
approval granted will apply to anyone who owns the property or
operates a business on the property.
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citation Powers
In examining ways to provide for more effective enforcement,
staff concluded that citation power provided the greatest
incentive
for
compliance.
Information gathered
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jurisdictions indicated that Santa Monica was one of the few
cities which did not use citation power as a means of enforcing
the Zoning ordinance. The following table presents the findings
of the survey.
SURVEY OF SIXTEEN CITIES
CITATION POWERS
City Citation Power Misdemeanorl
Yes/No Infraction
Anaheim Yes Mis
Beverly Hills Yes Inf
Buena Park Yes Mis
Costa Mesa Yes Inf
Culver City No Mis
Fountain Valley Yes Mis
Fullerton Yes Mis
Garden Grove Yes Mis
Glendale Yes Mis
Irvine Yes Mis
Laguna Yes Inf
Long Beach Yes Inf
Newport Beach Yes Mis
Orange Yes Inf
Pasadena No
Santa Ana Yes Mis
To implement a more effective enforcement program including
citation powers, it will be necessary to revise the existing
zoning ordinance.
Presently, any violation of the Zoning
Ordinance is a misdemeanor and subject to enforcement under SMMC
Section 1200. Upon discussion with the City Attorney, it was
concluded that violations will remain misdemeanors; however, a
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process similar to the Aircraft Noise Abatement Code (SMMC
section 10050) will be established by which violations are
subject to a civil penalty of $500.00 for each citation issued.
Impact of citation Powers on Workload
The impact of citation powers on Planning Division workload would
be positive. During FY 1986-87 the two Zoning Inspectors
investigated 1,000 zoning complaints (an average of 19 per week)
and 2,400 sign ordinance violations (approximately 46 per week)
which are pursued on a proactive basis. Most complaints require
at least two site visits.
During that time period, over 700 Planning Commission,
Architectural Review Board, Zoning Administrator and
Administrative Approval applications were approved within the
last year, each with from 1 to 25 conditions of approval
attached, which presently are enforced on a complaint basis only.
In addition, the Zoning Inspectors also process approximately
1,300 Residential Building Reports, l,200 Business License
Applications, 500 Home Occupation Permits, and 50 Deed
Restrictions each year.
citation powers will enable staff to process zoning violations
and complaints more efficiently as well as more effectively,
since it is anticipated that compliance will be achieved with
fewer inspections and therefore less follow-up. Thus, with the
proposed ordinance, the Planning Division will be able to process
more complaints with the same staffing level.
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Business License Revocation Procedure
In addition to granting the Planning Division citation powers,
staff proposes that Business License revocation procedures be
included in the ordinance to ensure that business licenses can be
revoked for failure to comply with any condition of a development
approval. This involves amending sections 6124 to 6126 of the
SMMC to provide for a business license revocation hearing before
the Planning Commission and appeal to the City council for
revocations concerning Zoning Ordinance violations.
BUDGET/FISCAL IMPACT
The recommendation presented in the report has no budget or
fiscal impact. However, a proposed ordinance which provides for
citation authority would increase the revenues collected by the
City. Presently no fee or penalty is collected for violations of
the zoning ordinance, and should the proposal be adopted at some
future date, the City would have the ability to assess a $500.00
penal ty for each violation if not corrected after the first
notice is issued.
RECOMMENDATION
It is respectfully recommended that the City Council direct the
city Attorney to prepare an ordinance to amend Section 9157
(SMMC) to authorize citation powers for zoning enforcement and to
amend Sections 6l24, 6125, and 6126 (SMMC) to provide for a
business license revocation hearing process.
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Prepared by: R. Ann siracusa, Director of Planning
Suzanne Frick, Principal Planner
Renee Cowhig, Zoning Inspector
Planning Division
Community and Economic Development Department
codal
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OS/20/87
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