Steps taken to speed up the Santa Clarita Code Enforcement process.

An April 24 resolution to authorize Santa Clarita’s City Manager to enter into stipulated agreements will change the way that the City of Santa Clarita handles Code Enforcement violations.

In prior posts, we discussed the issues of overcrowded homes and the complaints that the City has been receiving about excess noise, trash and cars around these homes. The fact that Code Enforcement personnel will be canvassing neighborhoods in search of illegal garage conversions and other illegal room additions means that the City of Santa Clarita must find a way to effectively handle these code violations if they don’t want to find themselves mired in paperwork.

The current procedures for the Community Preservation Division include the issuance of two notification letters and as many as three citation letters to property owners and tenants that are in violation. This can often take more than 60 days, and if there is no progress during this time period then the property owner and/or tenant will be invited to an office conference with the City’s staff and the City Attorney’s office. If the compliance timeline set at this conference is not followed, then the case can be brought to court.

With the proposed stipulated agreements, the City would enter into the agreement with the property owner/tenant and the agreement would be filed with the court right away. This enhances the City’s ability to enforce the compliance agreement and limits the property owner’s ability to not comply, as well as setting a date for the compliance to be completed. If the property owner/tenant violates this agreement, enforcement would fall under the jurisdiction of the court.

This stipulated agreement program seeks to find a happy medium between the lengthy process that is used currently or strictly enforcing the City municipal code both in interpretation and timeline.

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