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HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 8.2 - 1285 Fire Prevention Planning and Building Cod Page 1 of 4 STAFF REPORT CITY COUNCIL DATE: January 10, 2017 TO: Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers FROM: Christopher L. Foss, City Manager SUBJECT: Fire Prevention, Planning and Building Code Enforcement Overview Prepared by: Gregory Shreeve Sr., Chief Building Official EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The City Council will receive a report on code enforcement activities within the City of Dublin. STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Receive the report and provide feedback to Staff as appropriate. FINANCIAL IMPACT: No financial impact. The current fiscal year budget allocates funds for staffing to address code enforcement activities. DESCRIPTION: Background Code enforcement activities are handled in a comprehensive manner within the City of Dublin. Code enforcement cases result from proactive measures or from concerns brought to the City from the public. Depending upon the concern, enforcement may involve Staff from the Planning Division, Building & Safety Division, Fire Prevention, Police Department or the City Attorney’s Office. Each department enforces those regulations for which they are the Authority having jurisdiction as determined by the Dublin Municipal Code (DMC). The Planning Division enforces regulations related to land use, development, and general pr ivate property maintenance. These topics are regulated by the DMC primarily through the Zoning Ordinance (Title 8), the Public Welfare Ordinance (Title 5) which includes the following chapters: Property Maintenance (Chapter 5.64); Weeds and Refuse (Chapte r 5.7); and Rodent and Fly Control (Chapter 5.72). The Building & Safety Division addresses building safety by way of the California Building Standards Code as addressed in the DMC Title 7. These activities can run from working without a permit to houses with mold problems. The Fire Prevention Bureau handles the Fire Codes and National Fire Page 2 of 4 Protection Association (NFPA) standards as addressed in DMC Title 5. The Bureau’s code enforcement activity runs from business license inspections to fire investigat ions. Dublin Police Services code enforcement activities general involve the criminal and vehicle codes. They also provide Staff with assistance relative to issuance of citations and security or access to sites. The City Attorney’s Office assists Staff with obtaining an inspection warrants or getting violations abated. Currently, the City has one (1) Planning Code Enforcement Officer, a half -time (.5) time Contract Building Code Enforcement Officer, and two (2) full time Contract Fire Prevention Staff whose primary duties include enforcement activities. Additional Staff members from each division can be assigned to supplement enforcement activities as necessary. The time spent on code enforcement can be modified at a moment’s notice to handle code enforcement activities as they arise. In code enforcement cases that may have violations covered by different divisions or departments, the City utilizes a Community Action Team (CAT) approach to code enforcement activities. The team consists of representati ves from Crime Prevention, Fire Prevention, Planning and Building & Safety Divisions. Other departments are brought in as necessary for their expertise in the case. Example of other departments may include Public Works or the City Attorney’s Office. Thi s method allows for a coordinated approach to the situation, better customer service and quicker resolution to all violations on the property. The CAT team meets on a regular basis to ongoing coordination, compare cases and discuss where joint action is needed. Code Compliance Code violations are identified by way of proactive and reactive enforcement (i.e. complaint based). Proactive enforcement typically includes observations made by enforcement staff while regularly “patrolling” the City, observations made by a Contract Building Inspector during a scheduled building permit inspection or by the Fire Code Compliance Officer during a routine Business License Inspection or Annual / Tri -Annual Fire Inspection. Reactive enforcement is complaint based and rep orted to the City through multiple platforms which include a phone call, e-mail, letter and on-line via the City’s website. Complaint can be made anonymously. All proactive and reactive cases are investigated, as per City Resolution # 150-09, this includes anonymous complaints. Staff utilizes procedures that attempt to obtain code compliance voluntarily; this is done through site visits, letters, warning notices and pre-citation letters. When Staff is unable able to obtain code compliance voluntarily, c itations will be issued. Depending on the life safety risk, Staff may seek a court order for correction of the violations. Code Enforcement As stated earlier proactive code enforcement is performed utilizing a few different methods. These methods are as follows: Contract Building Inspectors drive throughout the City on the way to their scheduled inspections. Inspectors, by nature of their job, are observant individuals. During their ride from one inspection or job site to the next, it is not uncommon for an inspector to notice something out of the ordinary. When this occurs the inspectors will investigate and if a possible violation is observed, it is Page 3 of 4 turned over to the Contract Building Code Enforcement Inspector for follow up. Contract Building Inspector notices a violation while performing an inspection of permitted work. (It is important to note the inspectors are accompanied by the permit holder’s representative and only go from the entrance to the inspection area. The Inspector is not going throughout the property or building looking for violations and does not go into areas that they are not invited). Upon the submittal of a Business License Application, the Fire Code Compliance Officer performs an inspection of the premise of the business , to verify compliance with the Building & Fire Codes and that unpermitted work has not been performed. The exception to this rule is that Home Occupation Business License Applications and Businesses outside the City of Dublin are not inspected by the Fire Code Compliance Officer. Fire staff conducts inspections of buildings as required by the State Fire Marshals Offices and the Fire Code. As well as conducting inspections of sites with operational fire permits and those under the City of Dublin’s Self -Inspection program. Proactive code enforcement represents the majority of the Planning Division and Fire Prevention Bureau’s cases. Reactive code enforcement represents the majority of Building & Safety Code Enforcement cases. The reactive code enforceme nt complaint cases involve graffiti abatement, property maintenance complaints, possible work being done without City permits, Housing Code violations. Code Enforcement Process Upon receiving a complaint (proactive or reactive are treated the same), the information on the potential code violation is forwarded to the Division / Department responsible for the type of complaint. Staff visits the site and request permission to perform an inspection. If entry is granted the inspection is performed for the buil ding or premises. The results of the inspection are compared to City records and Codes to determine if a violation(s) exists. If it is determined that no violation exists, the owner and complaint are notified of the results of the inspection. If it is determined that a violation does exist, the owner of the building or premise is sent a letter explaining what the violation(s) is (are) and how to correct the violation(s). The Code Enforcement Officer will continue to work with the owner to obtain voluntary compliance. If they are unsuccessful in obtaining voluntary compliance further action will be taken, up to and including the issuance of citations (similar to a traffic ticket) and / or a court order to abate the violation. Few of the cases reach the need for the issuance of a citation and even fewer, the need for abatement by the City or a Court Order. If entry is refused and the Building Official or Fire Code Official has a reasonable cause to believe that a violation of the Codes exist in any buildi ng or premises, the Building Official or Fire Code Official has the ability to obtain an inspection warrant to perform the inspection. Additional information on the Building Official’s Right -of-Entry can be found in section 7.28.120 of the Dublin Municipa l Code. The information on the Fire Code Official's Right-of-Entry is found in section 104.3 of the Dublin Fire Code. The exception to the above process is when the complaint is anonymous. Per City Page 4 of 4 Council Resolution 150-09, all anonymous complaints will be investigated. However, no action will be taken on anonymous complaints where the City Manager, Community Development Director, Public Works Director or Building Official determines that the matter does not warrant further action. Conclusion As you can see from above, the City’s has a robust and cooperative code enforcement program. While no program can ensure 100% safety, the City's actions on code enforcement results in an extremely high level of safety throughout the community. NOTICING REQUIREMENTS/PUBLIC OUTREACH: None required. ATTACHMENTS: None.